Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | July 2008 24 35 Dennis Valdes President, Philweb Corp 33 Theodore “Teddy”Cheng Chee Tock Chairman, C Y Foundation In early 2007, Teddy Cheng completed a takeover and recapitalisation of a Hong Kong-listed vehicle to create CY Foundation (1182.HK) . The company operates online P2P (player-to-player) game tournaments for prizes across China and sees enormous potential for the country’s fast growing online gaming market, which had an estimated 45 million players in 2006. C Y Foundation has a clear first mover advantage and is developing tournament formats suitable for multiple market segments such as dou di zhu (“fight the landlord”, one of China’s most popular card games) and the international favourite, Texas Hold’em poker. CYFoundation’smaindistributionchannel is through internet cafes, which are a major hub of online activity in China, with some 27 million people visiting 120,000 licensed cafes across the country each day. C Y expects to roll out its products to some 20,000 internet cafes over the next 3 years. Early results have been encouraging, with significant growth expected following the announcement of new marketing partnerships and product launches later this year. Mr Cheng is a renowned entrepreneur in mainland China. He has acted as chief representative or principal consultant in mainland China to foreign firms including AT&T, Unisys, Honeywell, Hewlett Packard and IBM. Both Mr Cheng and his wife are scions of prominent families that have active links to the very top of China’s political hierarchy. Mr Cheng acts in an advisory capacity to several provincial and municipal governments in China and is also the chairman and majority shareholder of Australia-listed Sino Strategic International, which is primarily engaged in the lottery business in mainland China. overseen strong growth leading to a 64% increase in net income year-on-year in 2006–2007. The number of e-gaming cafes increased from 44 in 2006 to 76 in 2007 and is expected to reach approximately 100 by the end of 2008. Philweb also assists PAGCOR in operating an online sportsbetting operation and plans to launch new gaming product lines later this year and to offer its services through other PAGCOR licensed gaming operators to further boost revenues. Mr Valdes is a certified public accountant with an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He previously worked in various capacities for the Inquirer Media Asian Gaming 50 34 Angela Leong On-kei Director, Sociedade de Jogos de Macau vote at the Legislative Assembly election of 2005. Also on the party ticket was Dr Ho’s long-time lieutenant Dr Ambrose So, though he failed to retain his seat. As a director of STDM subsidiary SJM, which operates the group’s casino interests in Macau, Ms Leong is reputed to be a savvy businesswoman and fierce dealmaker and is often at the forefront of campaigning for the gaming industry in general, and the interests of her company in particular. In April, after the announcement of a moratoriumon further casino development, Ms Leong called on the Macau government to reconsider a blanket ban and view each operator as a special case. Ms Leong is best known as the fourth official consort of Macau’s former gaming monopolist Stanley Ho, and is mother of his five youngest children. Whether she would have become a director of STDM—Dr Ho’s investment holding company—without her strong domestic CV is a moot point Ms Leong is also a Macau legislator and leader of the Macau Development Alliance party. She entered Macau politics via direct Since 2006, Dennis Valdes has headed PhilWeb Corp, the largest listed internet company (by market capitalization) in the Philippines. Philweb is the dominant technology gaming firm in the country and the principal technology enabler of PAGCOR, the Philippines’ regulatory agency for all games of chance. Philweb drives and promotes PAGCOR’s e-games internet cafes—which offer online casino gaming—and has Group of Companies (owner of Philippine Daily Inquirer ) from 1996 to 2006.