Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | January 2008 20 Stanley Ho to his credit realized that his organisation was unable to deal with the new competition so he brought in Frank Mc- Fadden (ex-head of the incredibly popular Sands Macau, as COO of Venetian Macau) to hopefully stir things up a bit. Frank went in thinking he could smart- en things up a bit until he hit the old guard, and the result is a cheap copy of Sands called the Grand Lisboa. Almost every pro- fessional observer who has gone in has emerged unimpressed, and that has just been by the look of the place. On the opera- tions side, there are reports of a dual report- ing structure with the westerners on one side, and the old SJM diehards on the other. Two virtual management structures operat- ing in parallel with very little communica- tion between the two, from dealers all the way up to the senior executives. Talking about dual reports, strong ru- mours abound of another East meets West management schism, this time over in Taipa. The current structure of the No.1 reporting to Melco, the No. 2 reporting to PBL, the No. 3 to Melco, No. 4 to PBL, and so forth, sounds like a recipe for another disaster in the making. Wonder what this portends for the last remaining East-West JV in the form of MGM Grand Paradise Ltd? Anyway, I digress. None of the other SJM properties stand out in terms of attractive- ness to the punters, yet their ROI is another matter given the puny capital that would have been invested. The only nice thing about the Grand Lisboa is the massive exter- nal domed LED display which makes up the podium façade, and definitely catches one’s attention. Apart from that, their VIP rooms should not have been commissioned at all, and the uniforms of the dealers—someone must have drawn their inspiration from the former East German secret service (one might conclude only a family member has the clout to get that design approved). Galaxy Gripes Then there are the Galaxy City Clubs. Talk about being neither here nor there. Apart from the Grand Waldo, the others are converted office blocks and the only note- worthy thing you can say about them is the constant change in their ownership. As for the Grand Waldo with their now defunct live Thai adult performances complete with Ping-pong balls and, let me see if I can get this name right: “Topless Papaya Bar”?, the mind boggles as to their target mar- ket. Someone over there must have spent too much time in Patpong Road, Bangkok. Grand Waldo is so quiet you can drive a truck through the main hall and not hit any real customers (we don’t count bussed in zero-cost package tourists as players). Galaxy Starworld itself is an interesting case study in how not to rush a building without the proper engineering study. It has surfaced in a recent corruption court case that the StarWorld building has sunk below its original height after opening in Novem- ber 2006, and despite that, the final approval was granted just before Macau’s former Sec- retary of Public Works was arrested on cor- ruption charges. StarWorld’s main feature attraction appears to be the lady-boys jiggling away in the ground floor lobby and the tower- ing female hosts ushering guests into the elevators. Best of the rest Then there is Sands, Wynn, Crown and now MGM. Given the last has only just open, it’s still early days yet, and it appear not to have done anything wrong or of noteworthiness, so I will come back to it in a later issue. Sands is still drawing them in, being the closest big main hall to the ferry termi- nal. The people who used to run from the ferry terminal to the floating palace and Jai Alai have relocated to Sands, so its biggest drawcard is its location [although the Editor believes Sands’ revolutionary stadium-style design is the biggest factor behind its suc- cess]. Sands also set new standards for high Casinos Critique The StarWorld may be sinking, but boasts some attractive interiors