Inside Asian Gaming

July 2008 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 19 23 Albert Yeung Founder and Chairman, Emperor Group 24 Tom Hall President Asia Pacific, Playtech Vice Chairman, AsianLogic 25 Jack Lam Yin Lok Chairman, Jimei Group A larger than life personality, Albert Yeung started with a single shop selling jewellery and watches and built a group of listed companies comprising a wide range of businesses that include property investment and development, financial services, entertainment and movies, hotel operation, publishing and printing and catering and retailing. Based in Hong Kong, with ventures in Macau, China, Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia, the Emperor Group now employs some 7,000 staff. Whilst best known for his entertainment, people as associates, including top officials in Beijing. Born in Southern China’s Chiu Chow region, an area renowned for breeding “tough guys”, Mr Yeung collects luxury cars and proudly displays his wealth on expensive “lucky” number plates. He is also a high-profile philanthropist, supporting many mainland Chinese causes. media and movie interests, Mr Yeung is also a significant player in the gaming sector with sportsbetting interests and a flagship hotel/ casino in Macau— the Grand Emperor Hotel housing the Emperor Palace Casino. Mr Yeung has skilfully utilized his media interests to cross promote his hotel/casino and has successfully applied his “showbiz” expertise to gaming. Appealing to the Asian love of gold and promoting player good luck, the lobby of the Grand Emperor features a “Golden Pathway,” with 78 gold bars, each weighing one kilogram, recessed in the floor under glass panels. No stranger to controversy, Mr Yeung has endured allegations of corruption and organized crime links to retain his position as one of Asia’s wealthiest and most influential businessmen. He counts some powerful Former CEO of online gaming software giant Playtech, and the company’s long- term face in Asia, Mr Hall also recently floated high-growth Asian-focused gaming company AsianLogic in the UK, along with co-founders Chris Parker and Kan Tang. Playtech, which recently overtook PartyGaming to become the world’s largest online gaming company,derives a significant portion of its global revenues from Asia, and its net operating margin in excess of 65% is the envy of traditional gambling operators. AsianLogic had its origins in the online gaming space and is slowly adding land based gaming businesses. Flush with cash from the AsianLogic IPO, and as seed investors in a newly formed gaming and gaming technology fund, Mr Hall and Asianlogic are actively seeking further gaming opportunities in the region. Mr Hall recently acquired and launched the Asian Poker Tour, with a view to pursuing one of the fastest growing gaming lines in Asia. Mr Hall has an impressive international network of contacts including gaming operators, regulators and suppliers in both the online and land-based domains. His Eurasian heritage and strong institutional backing have helped him build an impressive track record of M&A transactions and partnership deals, often successfully joining Western and Asian operators. He is recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities in the field of interactive gaming and is a regular keynote speaker at gaming conferences and investor forums around the world. He is well positioned to benefit from increased regulation and implementation of internet gaming across Asia. One of the largest junket operators active in Macau and throughout Asia, Jack Lam’s Jimei Group also runs two casino cruise ship—the M.V. Jimei sailing out of Hong Kong, and Xiang Xue Lan, sailing between China and South Korea—and has several interests in the Philippines including Fort Ilocondia Resort & Casino and Fontana Leisure Parks, comprising several hectares of villas, water parks, hotels and, of course, a casino. Dr Lam was born in Guangzhou, China, and moved to Hong Kong in 1979 at the age of 18. He started out as a bookkeeper at his uncle’s factory, earning a mere HK$1,000 (US$128) a month and sending most of his salary back home to help his family. He got his introduction to gaming through his uncle, who played regularly in Macau. After accompanying his uncle on several trips to Macau, Dr Lam had built up a network of contacts and started working as a junket sub-agent—a lowly position that gave him insights into building and maintaining customer relationships. By 1981, Dr Lam started work as a small junket representative in Macau. Through diligence and a solid understanding of his clientele, he gradually emerged as a leading junket operator who is now reported to supply the bulk of VIP players to Las Vegas Sands CorpandWynnResorts inMacau.Jimei Group also operates junkets to South Korea and several Philippine casinos, including the ones he has invested in. Dr Lam started out as a junket operator in the Philippines in 1994, but went on to acquire Fort Ilocondia in 2000 and Fontana in 2004, diversifying his interests in the country from strictly gaming to integrated tourism. Both properties have enjoyed substantial growth in business under his leadership.