Inside Asian Gaming

March 2009 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING But Peter Cameron, writing in the Gold Coast Bulletin , said leaks from the office of Andrew Fraser, the Queensland state treasurer, suggested there was “Buckley’s chance” of that happening. For those unfamiliar with Australian popular culture, that means not much of a chance at all. The origin of the phrase is disputed, but a popular story says it is derived from the life of oneWilliam Buckley, a British-born convict who escaped in Victoria in 1803 and lived among the Aborigines there for 30 years, even though his former gaolers put his chances of survival at nil or next-to-nil. While there’s life there’s hope, so the example of the resourceful Mr Buckley may actually spur on Dr Ho. For as the Americans say, ‘winners never quit, and quitters never win’. Poll for Little Kinmen? Little Kinmen, or Lieyu, an islet just west of Taiwan’s outlying island of Kinmen, has decided to hold a referendum in April on casinos, reports the local media. Lieyu township chief Lin Chin-liang announced that the referendum will be held on 4th April to gauge residents’ opinions on whether the 16.23 square km-islet should be developed into a casino resort. Mr Lin said the 5,000 eligible voters will cast their referendum ballots at five polling stations around the township, also known as little Kinmen. Taiwan’s legislature passed a draft amendment on 12th January legalising gambling on Taiwan’s outlying islands, subject to local referenda. Stanley Ho 49 Briefs Who said politicians had to be democratically elected in order to understand the political game? Lost Profit Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS) posted a net loss of US$111.3 million globally in the fourth quarter of 2008, down from a profit of US$39.9 million a year earlier, as gambling markets continued to decline in Las Vegas and Macau. The company reported that it lost US$0.27 per share on revenue of US$1.09 billion. This was despite a 4.3% rise in revenue, compared to Q4 ’07. “People in both of those markets [Las Vegas and Macau] are clearly spending less once they arrive,” said William Weidner, LVS’s President and Chief OperatingOfficer in comments to analysts during a conference call to discuss the results. This doesn’t quite square with the fact LVS’s operating revenue was actually up in Q4 ’08, though the company attributed much of the losses to increased costs related to net interest expense, depreciation and amortisation. For the full fiscal year, which ended 31st December 2008, the company lost US$0.48 per share, or US$188.8 million, compared with earnings of US$0.33 cents per share, or US$116.7 million, in 2007. Revenue was US$4.39 billion for the whole of 2008, a 48.8% rise on 2007, when revenue generated came to US$2.95 billion. The company said in the next financial year it hopes to save US$250 million in operational costs—half of it in Macau. “While we cannot control consumer confidence or know when the market conditions will improve, what we can and will do is control our cost structure and focus all of our collective efforts on the disciplined execution plan,” added Mr Weidner. LVS Hiring Singapore Casino Staff Channel NewsAsia reports LVS has begun recruiting for its casino operations in Singapore. In this second phase of recruitment, it is looking to hire about 4,500 people, to be dealers, pit supervisors, gaming table technicians and surveillance personnel. As construction of the Marina Bay Sands gets underway, the company behind the US$5.4 billion integrated resort is also stepping up its hiring before the opening at the end of the year. It has just completed a recruitment drive for hospitality staff. As the gaming industry is still very new to Singapore, in-house training will be provided. Part-time positions will also be offered. Applicants need not have experience, but they need to possess the right attitude. MarinaBaySandssaidtheobjectiveistohireasmanySingaporeans as possible. That is what the labour movement, National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and the government’s Workforce Development Agency are focusing on. Sporting Chance The price of Stanley Ho’s proposed backing for a horse racing track and training facilities in Australia is a casino licence to fund it, according to media reports from Down Under. The Queensland Racing board believed Dr Ho, the former Macau casino monopolist, was prepared to underwrite a new international racing centre at Palm Meadows if granted a licence for a private casino on the site. Little Kinmen