Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING AUGUST 2018 20 COVER STORY J UST 12 months after the release of 16 Crown Resorts employees from two Chinese prisons last July – bringing to an end the nine-month ordeal that followed their October 2016 arrests for promoting gambling – Australia’s VIP gaming market has staged a full recovery. At least, that’s what the numbers say. Having seen nation-wide VIP turnover fall from around AU$60 billion in 1H16 to just AU$33 billion at the height of Crown’s China crisis early last year, the market rebounded strongly through December 2017 to AU$55 billion with analysts now predicting turnover will return to 2016 levels when FY18 financial results are released in the coming weeks. But while players have returned, the tables have turned on Australia’s traditional VIP leader with domestic rival Star Entertainment Group – whose IR portfolio includes The Star Sydney, The Star Gold Coast and Brisbane’s AU$3.5 billion Queen’s Wharf Development – swooping in to steal Crown’s mantle for the very first While players have returned, the tables have turned on Australia’s traditional VIP leader with domestic rival Star Entertainment Group swooping in to steal Crown’s mantle for the very first time. Star Entertainment Group’s flagship property, The Star Sydney