Crown Group, Inc. to Open Casinos in El Salvador.

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 16, 1999--Crown Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:CNGR) today announced that it has formed a new subsidiary, CG Incorporated S.A. de CV, to develop and operate casinos in El Salvador.

The subsidiary will be owned 50.1% by Crown and 49.9% by a corporation controlled by its local partner in El Salvador, J. T. S.A. de CV. Crown will initially invest $1,650,000 in the new subsidiary, which will comprise a $328,000 equity investment and a loan of $1,322,000. The Company's loan will be repaid before any distributions to the shareholders of the subsidiary.

The first casino, Casino Colonial, will be opened in the city of Antiquo Cuscatlan, which is part of the metropolitan area which includes San Salvador. The population of the metropolitan San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador, approximates two million persons. Casino Colonial, to be located in a building which previously contained a theater and is currently under renovation, is expected to open in May 1999. Its gaming activities will include more than 180 slot and video poker machines and twelve table games. Crown management anticipates the opening of several more casinos in the nation of El Salvador.

"This expansion of our international gaming activities is consistent with Crown's decision to invest in two casinos in Argentina in June 1998," stated Edward R. McMurphy, President and Chief Executive Officer of Crown Group, Inc. "The casinos in Argentina have outperformed our initial expectations, and we believe that El Salvador has the potential to provide an even better return on investment than we have achieved in Argentina."

"El Salvador offers a stable political and economic environment, and while there are obvious risks in any foreign country that do not exist in the United States, the profit potential of this investment is substantially greater than we could achieve in the domestic gaming industry," concluded McMurphy.

Crown Group, Inc. is a publicly traded buy-out firm which seeks to enhance shareholder value through the acquisition, development and operation of small-cap companies with significant growth potential. Crown Group currently owns (i) 80% of Paaco Automotive Group, a vertically integrated used car sales and finance company; (ii) 100% of Precision IBC, a firm specializing in the sale and rental of intermediate bulk containers; (iii) 80% of Concorde Acceptance Corporation, a sub-prime mortgage lender; (iv) 49% of Casino Magic Neuquen, a casino operator in the Province of Neuquen, Argentina; and (v) 80% of Home Stay Lodges, a partnership which is involved in the development and operation of extended-stay lodging facilities.

Crown Group, Inc. is headquartered in Dallas and its common stock is traded on Nasdaq under the symbol "CNGR".

This press release includes statements that may constitute "forward-looking" statements, usually containing the words "believe," "estimate," "project," "expect," or similar expressions. These statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, changing economic conditions, changes in interest rates, continued acceptance of the Company's products and services in the marketplace, competitive factors, dependence upon lenders, and other risks detailed in the Company's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. By making these forward-looking statements, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these statements for revisions or changes after the date of this release.