Casinos operator Echo Entertainment Group has been down on its luck in play against international high rollers.
Chief executive Matt Bekier says Echo isn't winning as often as it usually does against high-rolling VIP gamblers at its casinos, which include The Star in Sydney and Jupiters Gold Coast.
"On an actual basis, we have experienced an abnormally low win rate for the international VIP business in the early part of this financial year," Mr Bekier told shareholders at Echo's annual meeting on Wednesday.
Consequently, actual revenue from the international VIP business was down 33.8 per cent on the same period a year ago.
Mr Bekier said that in mass market gambling, Echo had millions of people who visited its casinos so the win rate barely changed.
But in the VIP business, just a few high-rollers getting lucky on big bets of up to $500,000 and walking away with their winnings could pull down the win rate.
"If somebody gets on a run and instead of winning 48 per cent of the time, they win 52 per cent of the time, at half a million dollars a hand, it makes a difference," Mr Bekier told AAP.
Seventy per cent of the high-rolling gamblers were from Hong Kong, Macau and China, and the rest from southeast Asia.
Mr Bekier said visits by high-rolling gamblers to The Star during the Chinese "Golden Week" holiday had been strong, but the high rollers had not bet as much as they last year.
Mr Bekier said the actual win rate against VIP gamblers so far in the current financial year was 1.0 per cent - that is, Echo has won one per cent of all the money that is bet.
The actual win rate for Echo's VIP business in fiscal 2015 was 1.27 per cent, which was down from 1.32 per cent in fiscal 2014.
Mr Bekier said Echo's total business, including non-gaming but excluding the international VIP business, had grown by 8.7 per cent in the year to October 31 compared to a year earlier.
The expansion of Echo's domestic gaming business, especially at The Star, was the main driver of growth.
Mr Bekier told shareholders that the growing wave of Asian tourism, particularly from China, had the potential to be Australia's next mining boom.
But to cash in on the boom, more high-end accommodation was needed.
Echo shareholders voted in favour of changing the company name to The Star Entertainment Group. Each of the company's casinos will carry The Star name as the standards of the properties become more aligned.
Shares in Echo were 32 cents lower at $4.80 on Wednesday.
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