Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming MArch 2016 42 Holiday Visitor Uptick False Dawn for Macau? Mainland Chinese visitor numbers to Macau rose over Chinese New Year, although analysts doubted if this signaled an end to the city’s protracted slump in gaming revenues. The Lunar New Year holiday, which this year fell on 7 to 13 February, is a peak season for the city. According to the Macau Government Tourist Office, visitor arrivals from mainland China over the week rose by 4.3% when compared with last year, to 793,598. This followed nine months of year-on-year falls, before a slight rise of 1% in December and fall of 1% in January. Average daily revenue at tables during the week, however, was still down 20% from last year, continuing a year-and-a-half of monthly falls. Some analysts concluded more visitors overall have done little to offset the collapse in high-roller spending caused by Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption crackdown and the souring Chinese economy. Others reckoned that few of the extra arrivals were gamblers. “Our latest channel checks suggest mass tables remain quiet. In particular, we are hearing this Chinese New Year is notable for the number of families present in Macau, and their higher propensity to enjoy non-gaming amenities and lower propensity to gamble,” wrote Wells Fargo Securities in a research note. “Given everything we are seeing and hearing in the market and in China, we are not sure what the catalyst is for 18 months of trend decline to suddenly turn around in February.” To support the idea that non-gamblers accounted for Macau’s tourism uptick, visitor arrivals recorded in Hong Kong over the Chinese New Year were down 12% this year. Given that visitor arrivals to the two cities have historically moved in tandem, and given that visitors to Hong Kong dropped in the aftermath of the city’s 2014 pro-democracy “umbrella” protests, it’s possible many were also scared away from Hong Kong this year by the rioting that broke out on February 8 in the city’s Mong Kok district. If, instead of cancelling their holiday outing, mainlanders diverted from Hong Kong to Macau, then Macau’s New Year surge was indeed a one-off and unrelated to any long-term trend. Shaun McCamley joins GMA Top casino executive Shaun McCamley has joined Global Market Advisors to head its Asia regional office. The leading consulting firm provides project feasibility reports, strategic advice, economic impact studies and marketing strategies to companies looking to grow in the global casino gaming, internet and social gaming, hospitality and airline industries. It has worked with clients in the US, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe, Mexico and Asian countries including South Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Macau, Japan, Taiwan, Philippines, Cambodia and eastern Russia. With business growing, recently it moved to a larger office in the central business district of Bangkok. GMA’s Managing Partner Steve Gallaway said, “We are excited to have Shaun join the GMA team. His decades of experience operating and consulting in Asia, combined with his in-depth knowledge of setting up and operating online gaming sites will be invaluable to our clients. With Shaun running the Bangkok office, and our other offices in Taipei, Las Vegas, and Denver, GMA can service our clients reliably 24 hours per day.” McCamley started his gaming career as a croupier at the Curzon House Club in London’s exclusive Mayfair district. Over 35 years he worked his way into positions of increasing responsibility, eventually establishing himself as one of the most respected senior industry executives in Asia Pacific. Recently he served as Managing Partner of Euro Pacific Asia consulting in Macau. He was then appointed president of Vietnam’s largest casino resort, the US$500 million Ho Tram resort casino which, under his management, saw a considerable improvement in fortunes. More Delays for Macau Integrated Resorts Two of the four mega-resorts now under construction in Macau’s Cotai district delayed their opening amid early signs of an improving gaming market. The government granted Sands China, a subsidiary of Las Vegas Sands, an extension to complete its US$2.7 billion Parisian Macau. After the casino operator said in May last year it would be unable to meet its original April 2016 deadline, the opening has now been postponed a second time, from September this year to November. The Parisian will be Sands’ fourth Macau casino and features 3,000 rooms and a half-scale replica of the Eiffel Tower. Earlier on MGM China, a subsidiary of MGM Resorts International, said the opening of its US$3.1 billion MGM Cotai resort would be moved from the fourth quarter of this year to the second quarter of next. Given 18 straight months of declining REGIONAL BRIEFS