Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | Oct 2007 18 earnings reached US$92.83 million before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation— up marginally from the previous quarter. Sales of VIP gaming chips climbed 5% to US$9.8 billion from the previous quarter. Gross turnover on mass-market table games fell 5.4% though to US$475.4 million, but winnings rose 4.3% to US$96.5 million after the house won a higher than average percentage of bets. Security vital From the markets’ perspective, back of house spending in the casino industry—on measures such a hi-tech security systems— can be as important for protecting investors’ interests as the more publicity-grabbing front of house investment. LVS for example recently announced it had struck a deal with the Canadian security company Bioscrypt which is supplying 3D Face Readers at The Venetian to authenticate the identities of the 12,000 employees who clock on at the start of every shift. The Venetian has also used Bioscrypt technology to deploy 50 V-Smart finger- print readers at secure areas of the casino. Employees authenticate themselves at en- trances to the restricted area by presenting their fingerprint, which is checked against a template stored on their smart card. Even if the dollar spend per sq. ft may be misleading when it comes to the rela- tive quality of the two properties, can the blunt instrument of scale that is The Vene- tian Macao beat the glamour of concen- trated luxury? Symbolism Mr Adelson’s comparison of The Vene- tian Macau with The Pentagon may reveal as much about his thinking as it does about the size of the project. The Pentagon is the ultimate symbol of American authority, rep- resenting the economic and military might of a superpower. Even if you can find someone who works at The Pentagon and is willing to talk about it, don’t expect him or her to mention navi- gating their way around that building as the favourite part of their job. When Sam Smith of the Chicago Tribune recently described Macau as “a casino de- signed as a nation”, he may have had a point. LVS seems to regard itself and is increasingly being viewed by others as a superpower in the gaming world. On that reckoning, Wynn Macau is like the European Union, looking sniffily down its nose at LVS, claiming cul- tural superiority but at the same time know- ing it would be hard to take LVS down in a straight fight. Despite the records Messrs Adelson and Wynn have as visionaries with sound ideas for improving their businesses, in Macau they may have become sidetracked by their own ‘bigger versus better’ ideologies at the expense of their patrons. Footsore At The Venetian Macao (if you can find a taxi to take you there, and even better, take you away at the end) the visitor needs stami- na and a pair of static-neutral shoes. By the time he or she has trundled down yet another carpeted and gilded corridor to the accompaniment of Baroque music (one wonders if the Baroque period lasted long enough to provide sufficient music to cover the journey) he or she will probably have built up a big enough electrical charge in his or her footwear to power an electric bulb for several hours. There are times when if you find yourself alone for a moment in one of those long corridors with no sign of natural light, you almost expect to see Jack Nichol- In Focus son come round a corner grinning madly and carrying a large axe, in Macau’s own ver- sion of The Shining . It can only be a matter of time before The Venetian copies Fisherman’s Wharf on the Macau peninsula and introduces an electric-powered novelty train to take peo- ple around its site, or hires out two-wheeled Segway personal transporters. Cultural fit Over at theWynn Macau, patrons may not face as much of a slog to move around the property, but things haven’t gone completely smoothly. Despite Mr Wynn’s aspirations re- garding classy venues, his designers at Wynn Macau initially contrived to create a pool area directly within the sight of reception.This was not a great idea in a society where showing off one’s body to strangers—especially fully- clothed, passing strangers—is not generally considered in very good taste.It also provoked considerable unfavourable comment in the local press. Back home in Nevada, the idea of flaunting it if you’ve got it may seem perfectly natural. The Silver State must be a serious ri- val to California and Florida when it comes to claiming the title of narcissism capital of America. For a casino operator to think the same would be acceptable in China hints at a newcomer who’s not yet taken enough time to understand the market. Chinese people have no trouble flaunting it when it comes to their Rolexwatch or their Gucci loafers,but don’t ask them to sit in a fish tank-like environment as if they were tonight’s seafood dinner. Mr Wynn didn’t exactly help his market- ing team either when at a recent investors’ conference he referred to Mao Zedong’s Cul- tural Revolution as “imbecilic”. The majority of Chinese people may well agree, but they won’t thank a foreign businessman for pub- licly reminding them, and by implication in- sulting their former head of state. While the Wynn’s pool positioning and Mr Wynn’s forays into international diplo- macy can possibly be overlooked as slip ups that can be remedied, over in Cotai a build- ing the size of a small town can’t be shrunk down as if it were a cartoon character. Impressive One commentator recently described The Venetian’s hotel atop the podium as “looking like the super-sized wing of a new penitentiary”, but another perspective is that the whole place is built to promote shock and awe. Being sympathetic to human scale isn’t the point. The Swiss-born 20th century architect Le Corbusier once said:“The house is a machine for living in.” But casino resorts are more than just machines for gambling in.They are One person’s gorgeous chandelier is another person’s vulgar light fitting