Casino cruise crew lose out in gambling crackdown
Print Edition
CAPTAIN Valerie Lyzhyn and his 45 crew are stranded in Hong Kong, big losers in a gambling slump triggered by a Chinese crackdown on corruption that has scared off the high-rollers.
Lyzhyn, 62, a Russian-born Ukrainian and veteran seaman, and his colleagues, refuse to leave their 140 meter casino cruiser the “New Imperial Star” until they get the six months of pay they say they are owed.
Hong Kong’s Marine Department has impounded the ship due to “serious deficiencies” found during an inspection.
Rations are running low, the ship’s owners can’t be reached and the cobalt blue felt covering the 16 baccarat tables is gathering dust.
“There’s one egg per crew member per day,” Lyzhyn said onboard the ship, which is moored a short barge ride away from a bustling port in Hong Kong.
Breakfast was particularly miserable: “No sausages, no bacon, no milk, nothing.”
Hong Kong’s casino cruises flourished alongside the world’s biggest gambling hub of Macau, across the mouth of the Pearl River from Hong Kong, until 2014.
It was then that China launched a wide-reaching anti-graft campaign, snaring officials and powerful businessmen who had used Macau as a cash playground. The gamblers have since been steering clear.
“Really, business has gone down,” Lyzhyn said. “A year ago we had 200 passengers, before we stopped operating we had only 50.”
Lyzhyn said the ship was detained in October last year after the owners failed to pay maintenance fees and as a result, it did not pass its inspections.
The crew members are waiting to be paid salaries totaling US$400,000, he said.
He said he did not know who the ship’s owners were but it was managed by a company called Sky Wheel Ltd.
Phone numbers for Sky Wheel did not work while Sea Hawk Asia, the ship’s previous manager, said it was not able to comment on the situation.
Prior to 2014, there were 12 casino ships operating out of Hong Kong ,but Lyzhyn said that the number has now plunged to just four.
The cruises typically pick up passengers at the Tsim Sha Tsui pier in Hong Kong’s Kowloon district and set sail at 8pm for international waters, returning to Hong Kong 12 hours later, after a night of gambling.
The boats are mostly owned by Macau junket companies which make use of convoluted ownership structures with multiple investors.
On the “New Imperial Star,” flies buzz around the kitschy chandeliers and the crew of 20 Ukrainians, 18 from Myanmar and eight Chinese can only wait. They may be there a while yet.
Lyzhyn said he hopes Hong Kong authorities will impound the ship in two weeks and then a legal process can start that he hopes will end with him and his crew being paid.
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