{"id":81603,"date":"2018-06-22T13:00:42","date_gmt":"2018-06-22T20:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=81603"},"modified":"2018-06-22T11:52:30","modified_gmt":"2018-06-22T18:52:30","slug":"dragon-corp-blockchain-powered-floating-casino-concept-capsizes-over-unsigned-contracts-delayed-payments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/dragon-corp-blockchain-powered-floating-casino-concept-capsizes-over-unsigned-contracts-delayed-payments\/","title":{"rendered":"Dragon Corp’s Blockchain-Powered Floating Casino Concept Capsizes Over Unsigned Contracts, Delayed Payments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dragon Corp\u2019s plans to \u201cintegrate blockchain into the world\u2019s biggest gambling hub\u201d via a cryptocurrency-powered floating casino in Macau may have hit the rocks.<\/p>\n

\"Dragon
A digital rendering of Dragon Corp\u2019s proposed $300 million Dragon Pearl, which is currently not being built, according to the Norwegian developer, Bova Idea. (Image: Dragon Corp\/XBD)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This week, Bova Idea, the Norwegian company hired to build the $300 million \u201cDragon Pearl\u201d casino, told the Macau News Agency<\/em> that it had abandoned the project in November last year because of repeated alterations to contracts and delayed payments.<\/p>\n

Dragon Corp believes it can use its cryptocurrency, Dragon Coin<\/em>, to undercut the amount traditional junket operators charge for transactions, which it hopes will increase Dragon Coin\u2019s popularity with Chinese high rollers.<\/p>\n

Financing the project through an initial coin offering (ICO),\u00a0 Dragon Corp hopes to raise around $500 million. The ICO reportedly went ahead in March of this year and it is believed Dragon Corp achieved its target, although precise figures have not been made public.<\/p>\n

The ICO was supposed to help investors buy an interest in the Dragon Pearl, as well as Dragon Corp\u2019s VIP junket operations, which it plans to roll out at casinos through partnership deals.<\/p>\n

Blockchain Junkets<\/strong><\/h2>\n

High-rollers use the junkets to swerve government restrictions on the movement of cash into Macau from the Chinese mainland. The gamblers pay up in China and receive tokens, known as \u201crolling chips,\u201d when they hit the casino in Macau.<\/p>\n

The junkets charge up to 7 percent for these transactions. But gamblers who buy their stakes using Dragon Coin, will pay only 1 percent.<\/p>\n

\n

Dragon Corp says its activities will swerve Macau\u2019s cryptocurrency gambling ban because it says it acts only as a wallet — the casinos themselves never come into contact with any digital currency. The company will pay casinos in traditional currency for the rolling chips it supplies to its gamblers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

But a source told the South China Morning Post<\/em> last September that the system would never be tolerated by the authorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are essentially trying to use an IT patch to legitimise an underground activity,\u201d said the source.<\/p>\n

Contract Ambush<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Describing his interactions with Dragon Corp to MNA, Bova Idea chairman Milo Andric said at one point he traveled to Hong Kong to attend the company\u2019s opening ceremony to make a presentation to possible investors.<\/p>\n

“They asked me to sign a contract during the event on stage, but I refused saying I could only sign a contract after seeing and reading it, so we signed a pro forma contract on the stage. Afterwards, they said they would provide the final contract but it never materialized,\u201d he said.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Also at that event, according to the SCMP<\/em>, was notorious former Triad boss \u201cBroken Tooth\u201d Wan Kuok-koi<\/a>. Dragon Corp CEO Chakrit Ahmad subsequently denied Wan had any involvement in the business, but Brittany Kaiser, formerly of Cambridge Analytica<\/a>, has alleged that is not the case.<\/p>\n

The UK firm at the heart of the Facebook data scandal performed promotional work for Dragon Corp last year. Kaiser, a former Cambridge Analytica director turned whistleblower, claimed in an interview with the New York Times<\/em> that documents sent in September 2017 to potential investors listed Wan as the major sponsor of the Dragon Coin ICO and even included his photograph.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dragon Corp\u2019s plans to \u201cintegrate blockchain into the world\u2019s biggest gambling hub\u201d via a cryptocurrency-powered floating casino in Macau may have hit the rocks. This week, Bova Idea, the Norwegian company hired to build the $300 million \u201cDragon Pearl\u201d casino, told the Macau News Agency that it had abandoned the project in November last year […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":81608,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,21,10,18],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDragon Corp Blockchain-Powered Floating Casino Concept Capsizes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dragon Corp plans for Macau\u2019s first floating casino, the Dragon Pearl, were a non-starter, according to Norwegian developer Bova Idea.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dragon Corp Blockchain-Powered Floating Casino Concept Capsizes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dragon Corp plans for Macau\u2019s first floating casino, the Dragon Pearl, were a non-starter, according to Norwegian developer Bova Idea.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/dragon-corp-blockchain-powered-floating-casino-concept-capsizes-over-unsigned-contracts-delayed-payments\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-06-22T20:00:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-06-22T18:52:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Dragon-Pearl.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"996\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"562\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/dragon-corp-blockchain-powered-floating-casino-concept-capsizes-over-unsigned-contracts-delayed-payments\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/dragon-corp-blockchain-powered-floating-casino-concept-capsizes-over-unsigned-contracts-delayed-payments\/\",\"name\":\"Dragon Corp Blockchain-Powered Floating Casino Concept Capsizes\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/dragon-corp-blockchain-powered-floating-casino-concept-capsizes-over-unsigned-contracts-delayed-payments\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/dragon-corp-blockchain-powered-floating-casino-concept-capsizes-over-unsigned-contracts-delayed-payments\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Dragon-Pearl.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-06-22T20:00:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-06-22T18:52:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Dragon Corp plans for Macau\u2019s first floating casino, the Dragon Pearl, were a non-starter, according to Norwegian developer Bova Idea.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/dragon-corp-blockchain-powered-floating-casino-concept-capsizes-over-unsigned-contracts-delayed-payments\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/dragon-corp-blockchain-powered-floating-casino-concept-capsizes-over-unsigned-contracts-delayed-payments\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/dragon-corp-blockchain-powered-floating-casino-concept-capsizes-over-unsigned-contracts-delayed-payments\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Dragon-Pearl.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Dragon-Pearl.png\",\"width\":996,\"height\":562,\"caption\":\"A digital rendering of Dragon Corp\u2019s proposed $300 million Dragon Pearl, which is currently not being built, according to the Norwegian developer, Bova Idea. 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