Inside Asian Gaming

september 2016 inside asian gaming 43 Asian Gaming POWER 50 2 0 1 6 City of Dreams Manila has emerged as one of the truly positive stories for Melco Crown Entertainment and it’s been Clarence Chung, chairman and president of Melco Crown (Philippines) Resorts, who has seen the company’s first foray outside Macau through its growing pains to a point where CoD Manila is now a major contributor to Melco Crown’s performance, credited in the second quarter, just 18 months since its opening, with driving a 17% increase in company revenues. An investment banker by profession, Mr Chung was recruited by a fledgling Melco in 2003 as CFO and has since served in a decision-making capacity with every major company of the group. He helped shepherd Melco Landing International’s Chairman and controlling shareholder Yang Zhihui is making good on his goal for the Hong Kong listed mainland China property developer “to establish its own branding and presence in the gaming industry.” Landing now has casinos on two islands popular with mainland Chinese, plus a share of the largest integrated resort planned for South Korea. Captivated by a 2002 visit, Mr Yang outbid multiple Korean companies for a 260 hectare (642 acre) development site on the southwest end of Jeju, South Korea’s top domestic tourism spot that offers visa-free entry to mainland Chinese. Landing partnered with Genting for what’s now US$1.8 billion Resorts World Jeju, with a theme park and condos – potentially a path to legal residency – plus a casino and 2,000 hotel rooms, expected to open in phases starting next year. As insurance against licensing problems, the partners each spent US$117 million to buy and refurbish the casino at Jeju’s Hyatt Regency, rebranding it Genting Jeju. When licensing anxiety evaporated last year, Landing bought Genting’s half of the property and now runs the 33 table, 30 machine property Crown to successful IPOs on the Nasdaq and Hong Kong stock exchanges and sits on the listed company’s board, and he’s an executive director of Lawrence Ho’s principal investment vehicle, Hong Kong-listed Melco International Development. He is perhaps equally well-known as chairman and chief executive of Nasdaq- listed Entertainment Gaming Asia, a diverse group majority-owned by a subsidiary of Melco International with holdings in machine gaming and casino operations that has expanded under Mr Chung’s leadership into casino currency and supplies and is pushing now into remote gaming with a free-to-play mobile app targeting the pan-Asian market. Yang Zhihui CHAIRMAN AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Landing International Power 619 Last 49 Score year Claims to Fame Genting’s partner in Resorts World Jeju Bought London’s Les Ambassadeurs Club in April 40 as Landing Casino. For the first six months of this year, gaming revenue reached US$30 million. In April, Landing announced the purchase of Les Ambassadeurs Club, with its two centuries of history in London’s swanky Mayfair district, for US$212 million. Landing immediately raised club dues, targeting Chinese high rollers frequenting London for business or visiting children attending UK schools. Acquiring Les Ambassadeurs “symbolizes our business breakthrough beyond Asia, striving to gain global presence in the industry,” Mr Yang says, suggesting Landing has only just begun that quest.