Inside Asian Gaming

3 Editor and Publisher Kareem Jalal Director João Costeira Varela Business Development Manager Ricardo Carvalho Operations Manager Artur Sousa Contributors Karen Tang, Mike Grimes, Paul Doocey Photography Lin Leong Graphic Designers Ricardo Borges, Rui Rasquinho, Karen Yiu Editorial Inside Asian Gaming is published by Must Read Publications Ltd Rua de S. Domingos, nr 16-i, Ed.“Hin Lei”7A - Macau Tel: (853) 6646 0795 For subscription enquiries, please email [email protected] For advertising enquiries, please email [email protected] or call Ricardo Carvalho Tel: (853) 6682 8475 www.asgam.com The design of the market-revolutionising Sands Macau is a critical fac- tor behind its tremendous success. In his interview with Inside Asian Gaming (“Creating a Crowd-Puller” on page 4), Paul Steelman – considered the world’s leading casino architect – explains the stadium-style main gaming floor was inspired by a visit to erstwhile monopoly operator Stanley Ho’s flagship Casino Lisboa seven years ago, when he realized gambling in Macau was a “spectator sport.” Sands Macau opened in May 2004 and features a dramatic 65-foot ceiling, but mindful of the nature of the business he designs for, Mr Steelman says he covered his bets by including“all the ceiling heights” – high, middle and low. As it was, his main bet paid off. Sands Macau has made casino operators in Asia more concerned with the design of their properties. Some will copy – key design elements from Sands have been copied by casinos around the region, includ- ing Stanley Ho’s Grand Lisboa, which opened in February. Others will innovate. One solution for operators is to simply call on Mr Steelman to provide them an innovative design of their own. Paul Steelman Design Group is currently working on nine projects across Asia, including seven in Macau. Macau embarked on a heady tourism and gaming boom in 2004, driven primarily by China’s easing of travel restrictions on mainlanders wishing to visit Hong Kong and Macau. Several operators rushed to tap into that boom by quickly converting disused residential and of- fice buildings into casino hotels. Given the shortage of gaming tables in Macau and rocketing visitor numbers, even the converted proper- ties generated substantial revenue over the following two years. As table capacity continues rising, however, the quickly converted properties could soon find themselves rendered obsolete, while the quality and design of Sands, the Grand Lisboa andWynn Macau will see them stand the test of time, even as sprawling mega resorts – headed by Venetian Macau, set to open in August – appear along the Cotai Strip. Casino operators along the Friendship Avenue strip, where Sands, Grand Lisboa andWynn are located, have thus far eschewed non- gaming attractions. Such attractions will come to the fore on the Cotai Strip, headed by Venetian Macau and its huge expo space and 15-18,000-seat stadium.Venetian operator Las Vegas Sands Corp has designs on luring visitors with conventions and various forms of enter- tainment, including the “Sporting Draw,”discussed on page 12. As returns from putting in more gaming tables decline, casino opera- tors will turn to non-gaming offerings to lure visitors to their proper- ties and maintain revenue growth.Their efforts will be hindered by Designed to Lure measures just implemented by the government of neighbouring Guangdong province to reduce the number of its residents making their way to Macau to gamble. Among the new measures by Guangdong to restrict its residents using individual travel permits (first introduced in July 2003, leading to the boom) to visit Macau: • The number of times Guangdong residents are allowed to visit Macau will be restricted • The application period is now 10 days instead of the previous 6 days • Permits for business travel have been suspended indefinitely • Urgent applications have been cancelled • Only single-entry permits will be issued, and double-entry per- mits abolished • There must be a minimum break of two months between visits • Officials of state-owned enterprises will not be allowed to visit Macau Although the measures were only revealed in late May, Macau casino operators already reported a 10% reduction in headcount by the end of the month, even though most visitors to Macau from Guangdong would still have been travelling on permits issued prior to the new measures.The effect of the measures in months ahead will likely be more pronounced. About 80% of individual travel permits in China are issued to Guangdong residents.Tougher restrictions have now report- edly also been adopted by other parts of China accounting for much of the remainder of permits, including Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Chongqing. The measures are most likely intended to reduce the sums “squan- dered”by mainland Chinese – especially heads of public firms misap- propriating company funds – on gambling in Macau, but ironically, will hit in time to dampen visitor numbers to Macau’s first casino resort seeking to drive non-gaming spending – the Venetian. Attempting to put a positive spin on the development, Macau Chief Executive Edmund Ho said the restrictions are “good”for Macau, because they will spur investment in sectors beyond gaming. However, it appears that after hindering investment in other attractions by of- fering excessive returns, Macau’s runaway gaming industry will now lower the returns on the non-gaming lures that are finally set to open by prompting this reaction across the border. Kareem Jalal We crave your feedback. Please send your comments to [email protected]

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTIyNjk=