Inside Asian Gaming

April 2008 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 43 Briefs money laundering law is ineffective because of the separation of the casino from the gambler as well as the loaned money or chips the customers use. The actual monetary transaction generally takes place in mainland China or home country of the VIP customer, and is therefore outside Macau’s jurisdiction. Furthermore, a key feature of Macau’s VIP market is privacy, and Dr Wang added:“If you ask every customer for their personal data, I believe most customers will walk away to another jurisdiction.” New Cotai Entertainment Appoints Walter Power as COO New Cotai Holdings announced the appointment of Walter Power as Chief Operating Officer (COO) of its gaming subsidiary, New Cotai Entertainment. New Cotai Holdings, through a wholly-owned subsidiary, is one of the owners of Macao Studio City, a project being developed on a 32.3-acre site in the Cotai strip. According to a company statement, Mr Power, who has been in Macau for five years, joins New Cotai from Sands Macao, where he was Senior Vice President of Operations. Mr Power has over 16 years of international gaming experience, having worked in the United States, Argentina, South Africa, the Philippines and Macau. As part of his responsibilities at Sands Macao, Mr Power oversaw casino operations, hotel operations, all food and beverage outlets and security operations. Well known in the industry for his expertise in the operation and mathematical analysis, as well as the financial impact of “non-negotiable” chip programs, Mr Power was integrally involved in developing and implementing VIP and junket programs for Sands Macao. New SkyCity Head Eyes Chinese High Rollers The new head of SkyCity Entertainment, Nigel Morrison, believes he will be able to lure high rollers away fromMacau to the company’s casinos in Auckland, Adelaide and Darwin. High rollers at SkyCity currently contribute only about 5% of earnings. Mr Morrison was formerly with Crown Casino, and says he plans to double high roller revenue and to revive the ailing company by hiring a half a dozen key staff in the next six months, partly to replace those who had quit over the past year because of poor morale. Mr Morrison said the company had previously attempted to attract greater numbers of high rollers fromSoutheast Asia and China in particular, and to encourage them to spend more, but had failed to hold on to the lucrative business. He declined to reveal what sort of incentives would be offered, however. Mr Morrison is accustomed to attracting wealthy gamblers, having previously worked at Macau’s Galaxy Entertainment Group and as chief operating office of Crown. Of the A$1.5 billion in total annual bets placed by international gamblers at the company’s Auckland, Darwin and Adelaide casinos, more than A$700 million comes through Auckland, about A$500 million through Darwin and the remainder through the smaller Adelaide casino. SJM 2007 Profit Falls 20% Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (SJM), the casino operator controlled by Macau magnate Stanley Ho, reported that its 2007 profit fell 20%year-on-year to 1.8 billion patacas (US$225m).Revenue for the year was 33 billion patacas, with 12 billion paid in taxes to the government. SJM is 80% held by Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau (STDM), Macau’s former monopoly casino operator. SJM controls 19 of Macau’s 29 casinos and is the only operator in the city that is not, directly or indirectly, listed on a stock exchange. Matt Maddox Moved up at Wynn Resorts Matt Maddox, 32, was named Wynn Resorts Ltd’s new chief financial officer (CFO), replacing John Strzemp, who was promoted to the company’s chief administrative officer. Mr Maddox has held finance and investor relations positions with Wynn Resorts since it was established in 2002. According to a report in the Las Vegas Gaming Wire , Mr Maddox was the company’s first employee on the ground in Macau, and had never been to the city when SteveWynn moved him there soon after the completion of the company’s initial public offering in October 2002. “From a small office, Maddox put together the project’s initial US$400 million in financing, worked on legislative initiatives and negotiated land concessions.” “When we were doing our IPO, Macau had not yet hit the radar screen,” Maddox said.“We brought along a map to show everybody where it was. By the time I left Macau in 2005, The Wall Street Journal had done a story on the best places to eat in Macau. That’s how quickly things changed.”