Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | January 2010 Who’s Coming to Dinner? Singapore’s new casino resorts may have the potential to surprise News that the son of an affluent Indian family allegedly staged his own kidnapping to fund a trip to Macau is an unusual but graphic reminder that the casino city has star appeal well beyond the borders of Greater China. Pawan Verma’s unorthodox approach to holiday fund raising came to a premature and unsuccessful end when the 22-year-old was nabbed trying to collect his own ‘ransom’ by police lying in wait at the rendezvous point–a shopping mall in New Delhi. What Mr Verma lacked in guile he made up for in gall and in motivation. He must have wanted to go to Macau pretty badly to risk his family inheritance and a possible stint in jail. This brings us to Singapore. The Lion City is on the verge of opening Resorts World Sentosa–the first of its two casino resorts–probably before the end of the month. Mr Verma’s unhappy and ill-advised attempt at intra-family extortion pulls into focus the question of who exactly will be visiting Genting’s Sentosa resort and its rival Marina Bay Sands developed by Las Vegas Sands Corp. The Singapore government is doing its best to make sure it isn’t low to middle-income Singaporeans, given the hefty S$2,000 annual membership fee or daily S$100 fee the locals will have to pay in order to play in the casinos. It seems reasonable to imagine therefore that young Indians such as Mr Verma, or rather, suitably and legally solvent people in his age group, must be part of the target market, given the proximity of the country to Singapore and the number of wealthy urban young people living In India. Sheldon Adelson, Chairman and Chief Executive of LVS, was quoted back in the summer of 2008 saying: “We would like to build a Cotai Strip in India. We would be happy to spend US$12 billion there.” We mention this not to score cheap points against LVS given the well-documented challenges faced by the company since the global recession kicked in. We mention it because India (or at least Indian gamblers) and Japan are clearly potential target markets for casino operators after China. As with China, major cultural and political barriers exist potentially to prevent direct casino investment in India or wide scale direct marketing of casino gambling services to Indians willing to travel outside the country for their entertainment. They include the legacy of economic nationalism and protectionism that has arguably produced a ‘mother knows best’ relationship between the political elite in the Republic of India and its estimated 1.2 billion people. The preamble of the constitution still defines India as a “sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic’. Note the position of the word ‘socialist’. The word socialist might be considered something of an anachronism–a leftover from the pre-boom decades and not reflective of India’s modern market economy. As with the word ‘People’s’ in Mainland China’s official title it does though serve as a warning that Asia’s new economic giants cannot be compared with the young United States at the beginning of the 20th century. They are a heady mix of ancient cultures that have seen invaders come and invaders go–with the additional spice of modern economic and political nationalism. Power in those countries is also a lot more diffused than many Westerners tend to imagine. India and China are perfectly capable of resisting the blandishments of economic invaders through sheer inertia, or at least bending the ambitions of foreign investors into a shape that suits the needs of the political elites in India and China. Mr Adelson has said repeatedly he expects Indian nationals will be among his customers in Singapore. But then Mr Adelson also said Chinese people would flock to conventions at The Venetian Macao. Since the global recession kicked in during the autumn of 2008, that resort’s convention diary hasn’t exactly been groaning under the strain of bookings. Just because Mr Adelson was mildly off the mark once, doesn’t mean he will be off the mark again. Subhash Chandra, a leading Indian entrepreneur who founded the Hindi- language satellite broadcaster Zee TV and started the online Playwin lottery in several Indian states, told Inside AsianGaming recently he is planning to create an‘entertainment city’in India (without gaming but with a frisson of non-family entertainment in the manner of Dubai). Pawan Verma’s strange story is a reminder that some young Indians do seem to like casinos, and can be quite focused on getting inside one. Whether Singapore’s casinos will be the bridgeheads for an historic assault on the Indian market remains to be seen. 4 Editorial Inside Asian Gaming is published by Must Read Publications Ltd Suite 1907, AIA Tower, 215A-301 Av. Comercial de Macau - Macau Tel: (853) 6646 0795 For subscription enquiries, please email subs@asgam.com For advertising enquiries, please email ads@asgam.com or call: (853) 6646 0795 www.asgam.com Inside Asian Gaming is an official media partner of: http://www.gamingstandards.com Michael Grimes We crave your feedback. Please email your comments tomichael@asgam.com Publisher Kareem Jalal Director João Costeira Varela Editor Michael Grimes Financial Controller Christina Tan Contributors Desmond Lam, Steve Karoul I. Nelson Rose, Richard Marcus Shenée Tuck, James J. Hodl Andrew MacDonald William R. Eadington Graphic Designer Brenda Chao Photography Ike