Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | December 2008 44 Briefs Regional Briefs Entertainment City On Target The gaming operator- cum-regulator Pagcor—the Philippine Amusement and GamingCorp—saidconstruction of a substantial portion of its US$10-billion Entertainment City at Manila Bay will start in the first quarter of 2009. The complex would allow Pagcor to more than double its income to about US$1.3 billion by 2012, a company official said. Newport City in Manila, a related US$1.55 billion project featuring a casino, hotel, entertainment and retail complex in a joint venture between Star Cruises and Philippines entrepreneur Andrew Tan, was reported recently to be on target with its funding. Earlier this year, Pagcor released the terms of reference for the 85-hectare Bagong Nayong Pilipino Entertainment City, in which each investor is required to put in at least US$1 billion. The complex will be built on reclaimed land, and it will include hotels, convention centers, theaters, sports stadiums, restaurants, shopping centers, cultural complexes, museums and amusement parks. BMM Signs Testing Agreement With Macau Poly BMM Compliance, one of the compliance industry’s global brands, has formally signed an agreement with Macao Polytechnic Institute for the establishment of the MPI–BMM Testing Centre for Gaming Devices. Professor Lei Heong Iok, President of MPI and Peter Turner, Managing Director of BMM Compliance Asia Pacific attended the signing ceremony, along with representatives from government, local operators and manufacturers as well as the Macao media. “Macau is now becoming not only one of the most famous gaming centres in the world, but also the one having the highest revenue,” said Prof. Lei in a speech at the event. “As a result, the supervision of the gaming industry also needs to develop. The establishment of a slot machine and gaming equipment testing laboratory is therefore an essential element in meeting the current needs of the market,” he added. Mr Turner thanked Prof. Lei and his colleagues. “The exclusive collaborative partnership between MPI and BMM, not only establishes a world class testing facility for gaming systems and devices, but also offers new opportunity to the people of Macau, and in particular academic students, to gain training and experience in the technology driven world of gaming compliance,” said Mr Turner. One of the first responsibilities the Centre will be to work with Macau’s regulatory body, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) in developing gaming regulations and standards to meet the unique requirements of Macau. BMM describes itself as the longest established and most experienced private independent gaming test lab in the world. BMM Compliance says its role is to “offer insight, expertise, testing, customised training and education for gaming compliance issues affecting manufacturers, operators and regulators in the gaming industry.” BMM is based in Las Vegas, and recently set up an office in Singapore in anticipation of the launch of the city-state’s casino gaming market next year. The Lion Roars into Vietnam MGMMIRAGE is to give its name to the Ho Tram Strip—Vietnam’s self-proclaimed first ‘Las Vegas style’ integrated gaming resort, says Asian Coast Development Ltd (ACDL), the consortium behind the project. The project will be known as MGM Grand Ho Tram. This will probably work well in Asia, though IAG doubts the name would go down quite so well in Las Vegas. “ACDL will own and finance the project, and MGM MIRAGE will provide development assistance, brand equity and operate the five- star integrated resort property upon completion,” the developers said in a statement. ‘Brand equity’ is presumably a fancy way of saying ‘name’ or ‘branding’. How far the MGM MIRAGE name will take ACDL is a moot point. A resort is only as good as the labour pool from which it recruits,as a number of the Las Vegas operators have found in Macau. Also, when MGM set up shop in the Macau casino market in a 50:50 joint venture with Dr Stanley Ho’s daughter Pansy, the company had expected to get commercial benefit from the MGM movie studio branding, even though the two businesses are no longer connected and haven’t been for years. There was just one problem. No one in China watched Hollywood movies or seemed to have the faintest idea what the lion trademark was all about. The fact MGMMIRAGE will not be bringing hard cash to the table in Vietnam is no great surprise. It’s been struggling to raise the US$3 billion it needs for the CityCenter project in Las Vegas.The company’s recent US$750 million debt issue has already been classified as ‘junk’ by one of the ratings agencies—though these are of course the same ratings agencies that brought us global meltdown. MGM Grand Ho Tram will be the centerpiece of the US$4.2 The planned Ho Tram Strip Rendering of Bagong Nayong Pilipino Entertainment City