Century Casinos bets on Chinese market with Ship-based gambling venue

The Glory Sea has a capacity of over 1,200 passengers and will focus on the Chinese cruise market with four-day trips between China, South Korea and Japan. The state-of-the-art casino features an initial gaming mix of 40 slot machines as well as 16 live gaming tables (including Baccarat, Black Jack, Three Card Poker, American Roulette and Sic Bo).

The casino will cater to regular cruise passengers as well as VIP players provided by junket operators.

Diamond Cruise International, a subsidiary of travel conglomerate Suzhou Taihu International Travel Agency, intends, in the next five years, to acquire an additional three to four ships in an effort to compete for supremacy in the fast-growing Chinese cruise market.

"We are excited to enter the Asian gaming market and to increase our position as the world-wide leader in operating casinos on cruise vessels through a long-term agreement with Diamond Cruise International," Century Casinos' Co CEOs Erwin Haitzmann and Peter Hoetzinger said.

"This is a very cost-effective way for our company to gain a foothold in the lucrative Chinese market and certainly has the potential to grow our ship-based casino segment to a very meaningful size," they added.