Inside Asian Gaming

MArch 2016 inside asian gaming 43 gaming revenues in the Macau casino industry, MGM China’s CEO Grant Bowie said the delay was made to better understand changes in the local market. “This decision is a good decision for Macau and it is a very good decision for MGM,” he said. “The transition from the VIP Market to mass market is occurring. That transition is probably taking longer and for growth to come back to Macau is taking longer than we expected. And I think that, therefore, it makes sense that we take a little bit longer to make sure that we have the right product.” MGM Cotai will be the operator’s second casino in the city, with 1,600 hotel rooms. Last November, WynnMacau announced a delay in the opening of its US$4.1 billion Cotai project Wynn Palace, from March this year to June. Yet another resort now being built in Cotai is the US$3.9 billion, 2,000 room Grand Lisboa Palace, belonging to local concessionaire SJM which is scheduled to open in the fourth quarter of next year. In spite of the delays, shares in Macau concessionaires have been rising amid optimism that the local market could be bottoming out. MGM’s Macau operations reported better-than-expected December quarter earnings. Las Vegas Sands said its management saw signs of improvement ahead. Wynn Resorts’ CEO Steve Wynn, meanwhile, said January was “our best month in a long time.” SJM CEO Testifies in Pimping Trial of Founder’s Nephew REGIONAL BRIEFS Macau police say it was the largest to be uncovered in the city since 1999, with 96 prostitutes found when the hotel was raided. Nearly all were from mainland China, and some said they paid 150,000 yuan (US$23,000) per year to parade in the property’s shopping mall before taking clients to their upstairs room. The casino at the Lisboa property was the centerpiece of the gambling empire of Stanley Ho, who held the gaming monopoly in Macau for 40 years until 2002, making him the most powerful man in the city and one of the richest in Asia. While the elder Ho at 94 now takes a back seat, his fourth wife Angela Leong is the largest individual stakeholder in SJM. Two of his children each hold a substantial stake in one of the city’s five other gaming concessions. Given the clan’s standing, the very public arrest of Alan Ho, along with six other defendants in January last year was remarkable. Macau Legend Starts Work on Cape Verde IR Macau-basedcasinoandhotel operatorMacauLegendDevelopment Limited has broken ground on a US$290 million integrated resort on the eastern Atlantic archipelago nation of Cape Verde. In addition to a casino and hotel, the 153,000 square meter project will feature office buildings, a marina, a museum and a convention center, and should take three years to complete. 22% of tropical Cape Verde’s GDP now comes from tourism and the government there hopes the new development will help boost visitor numbers from 600,000 visitors per year now to more than 2 million. Attending the groundbreaking ceremony, Macau Legend CEO David Chow Kam Fai hailed the project as a landmark in cooperation between Cape Verde, China andMacau. “Cape Verde is a Portuguese- speaking country that enjoys political stability, beautiful scenery, a pleasant climate and a convenient transportation network,” he said. “It is able to attract tourists from North Africa, West Africa, Europe, South America, Central America and the Caribbean, thereby creating a new market, especially with the trend that more and more Chinese are emigrating and investing in these places and this saves them from flying long to Asia.” Cape Verde’s first casino opened in 2013 when laws allowing gambling on five of its ten islands came into force. Macau Legend now operates two casinos in Macau. Amid declining revenues across the whole Macau gaming industry, the new project will be its first foray into the international market. The terms of its agreement with the Cape Verde government include a land concession of 75 years, a 25-year gaming license, and a 10-year nationwide monopoly over online gaming and sports betting. Ambrose So, who is the CEO of Macau’s oldest gaming operator SJM, testified at the trial of Alan Ho, a nephew of SJM’s founder and former gambling kingpin Stanley Ho. The younger Ho is accused of running a prostitution ring at the city’s landmark Lisboa casino and hotel. Called upon to defend Ho, So described him as “just and honest”, hard working and competent in his work as the hotel’s executive director at the time of alleged offences. He said Ho’s personality was like that of non-Chinese in being direct and straightforward, and added that he had never heard StanleyHo complain about his nephew. After another defense witness said Ho had ordered an investigation after women complained to the hotel that they were being charged for access to “working rooms” there, the public prosecutor asked So if Ho had intervened. So said he believed Ho would take measures to maintain the hotel’s propriety, but added that he was not sure if Ho had implemented any such measures. According to the prosecution, Ho led an operation that occupied the bedrooms of two whole floors of the hotel, employed 2,400 sex workers and took in US$50 million over two years.