Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming July 2016 12 There are concerns over how Trump’s attitude towards China might impact US gaming investments in Macau Then there are Mr Trump’s pronouncements on trade, particularly his vow to declare China a currency manipulator which fairly crackles with risk for the massive Macau investments of LVS, Wynn Resorts and MGM Resorts International. “Trump’s foreign policy is very anti-Republican. He’s not free trade. His nativist views are clearly antithetical to that,” says Klebanow. “If President Trump tries to strong-arm China there will be repercussions and they could be deleterious. My biggest fear is what are the long-term effects? Macau is where the impact will be most directly felt.” The belief among Mr Trump’s gaming supporters, says Professor Green, is that he will “settle down” once in office and heed their counsel. “The problem is they’re not the only ones who will be talking to him about this … in politics everyone knows that eventually you have to do some rationalizing. But how does that work with someone with no political record? This is truly a wild card. Donald Trump is the perfect candidate for someone with a casino mentality. If you’re a gambler this is an interesting bet.” For Klebanow it calls to mind something an executive of the World Wrestling Federation once told Sports Illustrated . “He was talking about the fans and said, ‘There are only two things that scare me about wrestling fans – they can vote and they can breathe.’ “You can say the same thing about the American electorate.” James Rutherford is a former editor of Inside Asian Gaming and co-author of the book “Trumped! The Inside Story of the Real Donald Trump.” He is currently based in the US and covers the industry from the Atlantic City area. Cover Story