About this app
About Golden Queen
In 2025, Playtech agreed a partnership to provide a platform for the launch of Brazilian state-owned bank Caixa’s betting operations.
Weizer previously said the Caixa tender could be “one of the most significant opportunities for Playtech for the coming years”.
However, due to its role as a a state-owned bank, and ongoing scrutiny around betting in Brazil, Caixa has come under political pressure, and its launch in the market has been postponed on several occasions despite it having paid the BRL30 million ($5.9 million) licence fee.
What is Golden Queen?
The factor that led some operators to drop out of the licensing race could be the “uncertainty” created by regulations that “didn’t seem set in stone”, says Leckert.
“Some of them [investors] that were looking at Japan were looking at a big IR licence or nothing. With Tokyo and Yokohama being out of the mix, maybe some weren’t as interested anymore and decided to sit back, and wait and see how regulation and licensing shake out.”
One concern for operators is “the short duration of licences and renewal of licences”, notes Leckert. For operators, the casino business licence is renewable every three years, while the IR development-plan authorisation runs for 10 years, in contrast to the 18-year IR licence term in the Philippines, for instance.
How to play Golden Queen
In second-quarter results posted last month, Encore Boston Harbor saw $209 million in revenue for the period, which was a 3% drop year-over-year. A 12% YoY drop in table games win led to a 6% decline in overall casino revenue, although Wynn CEO Craig Billings said the property delivered second-quarter records for both hotel revenue and revenue per available room. Demand in Boston “has remained healthy, with slot handle running slightly ahead of last year”, Billings said.
“When a company refuses to respect the workers who make its profits possible, we shut it down,” Thomas G Mari, president of Local 25, said in a statement. “The teamsters don’t cross picket lines and won’t be intimidated.”
Union deals have been a pressing topic for casino operators in recent years. Workers have pressed for increased benefits and job security provisions in the wake of macroeconomic uncertainty and the advent of potentially disruptive technologies like AI.
