Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING DECEMBER 2017 42 ASIAN GAMING POWER 50 2 0 1 7 a number of Macau gaming operators including Artyzen Hospitality Group, which owns Grand Lapa. Those responsibilities have only increased in 2017 after stepping into the role of Executive Chairman following her 96-year-old father’s resignation in June. Perhaps more notable is her role as a Director of STDM, the company Dr Ho founded in 1962, holder of a Macau 40-year gambling monopoly and parent company of current Macau concessionaire Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (SJM). But it is her role as Executive Director of MGM China – of which she holds a 22.49% stake – that has seen Ho wield the most influence on Macau’s gaming industry. The board role aside, she has been directly responsible for turning MGM Macau into one of the city’s must-see destinations for art lovers with an extensive array of fine art found through the property. Ho also had significant input into MGM Macau’s renowned Grand Praça area and has reportedly been highly active in regards to design elements of MGM Cotai, including various public areas and its dynamic theater. Ho is also a director for Oakmount Holdings Limited, Megaprosper Investments Limited, Beeston Profits Limited, Renita Investments Limited and Classic Time Developments Limited and holds a bachelor’s degree in Marketing and International Business Management from the University of Santa Clara in the US. It is perhaps in part because of this busy schedule that she has thus far refrained from moving to gain control of SJM from her father’s fourth wife, Angela Leong, after a 2011 agreement that saw Leong given a guaranteed six year role as Executive Director of SJM with Ho remaining as a director of STDM instead. Leong’s six year guarantee expired in early 2017. Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Hong Kong Jockey Club POWER 1,313 LAST 17 SCORE YEAR CLAIMS TO FAME Driving force behind the modernization and revitalization of the HKJC Has helped HKJC become Hong Kong’s biggest employer 15 Twelve months after its annual turnover declined for the first time in seven years, the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) made an emphatic statement in 2016-17 with record turnover of HK$216.5 billion – a 6.8% increase on the previous year and enough to ensure the government received an all-time high of HK$21.7 billion in tax revenue. Run as a non-profit, the HKJC is the city’s biggest taxpayer and donates millions in surplus revenue each year to charities and community causes. It is also the most successful of any racing club in the world, led by its core horse racing business which saw turnover grow 7.9% last season to HK$115.8 billion. The man behind this incredible success is CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges. Arriving in 1998 as racing director before taking on the top job nine years later, the former German youth football team player has transformed HKJC from a second-rate, highly introverted organization to one that is the envy of the racing world. Under Engelbrecht-Bresges’ watch, HKJC has invested millions into transforming almost every aspect of the business – from redevelopment of Sha Tin Racecourse under the Racecourse Master Plan to the quality of horses running and extensive customer segmentation work to provide a complete race day experience. The vastly improved product that is Hong Kong racing has subsequently enjoyed an explosion in popularity which has transferred directly to the betting ring – most notably via commingling with a number of lucrative overseas deals signed since HKJC was granted permission to commingle in 2013. New additions in 2016-17 included the UK Tote and Woodbine Entertainment Group in Toronto, helping commingling turnover soar by 87% year- on-year to HK$6.5 billion.