Inside Asian Gaming

April 2009 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 23 In Focus ‘B uild it and they will come’ was more or less themantra of LasVegas Sands Corp. in Macau. They did, but ‘they’ didn’t—or at least not in enough numbers and not quite quickly enough to keep nervous bankers happy. To be fair to LVS, the company had a once in a lifetime run of bad luck with world economics, compounded by some microeconomic and political issues unique to China. So if Macau is struggling to find success with the brave new world of Asian integrated resort gaming in the present global downturn, what are the chances of a secondary market such as the Philippines making a success of it? Broadly speaking, the plan of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor), the government- owned gaming operator-cum-regulator, is to marry the market experience, relative liquidity and local fundraising skills of domestic real estate developers with the operational and equipment manufacturing expertise of foreign gaming companies by building two integrated gaming resorts in Manila. Making plans Part of the difficulty for outside investors and analysts in assessing the medium to long-termprospects of these schemes is that the details appear to change on an almost daily basis. Even the names of the projects vary depending on to whom you talk. The scheme that’s already well under way—Newport City, near Manila’s international airport—has been touted by the country’s president and central government as an economic regeneration project. Nowhere on Newport City’s website however will visitors find the word ‘casino’. There’s lots of talk about hotels, an ‘entertainment complex’, a ‘sports complex’ and a golf course, but the ‘c’ word is notable by its absence. In the Philippines it appears that gaming is often a product that dare not speak its name for fear of offending opponents. This is in stark contrast to Macau where gaming is at Manila Envelope The Philippines is busy building the first of two casino resorts—but will tourists come? The SMX convention center