Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | March 2010 32 Nagaworld C ambodian casino operator NagaCorp says it plans to form joint ventures with Macau junket operators to bring ‘middle-roller’VIPs to its Phnom Penh casino NagaWorld. “We have initiated a few interesting efforts with Macau operators to entice players inMacau to check out NagaCorp,”the Hong Kong-listed company’s Chief Executive Dr Chen Lip Keong said in commenting on its annual results recently. Last year, 60% of VIP gamblers at NagaWorld came from Malaysia; 15% from Vietnam, while 12% came from Singapore and another 12% from mainland China. “We see a lot of potential from the Chinese tourists,” added Dr Chen. “Co-operation may not be limited to operations; it could also be in the form of equity interests and joint ventures.” NagaCorp says it is negotiating with the regional air carrier Shenzhen Airlines in the People’s Republic of China with a view to it operating a service between Shenzhen and Phnom Penh. Chinese gold Shenzhen in Guangdong province is next door to Hong Kong and was the first of China’s Special Economic Zones set up under China’s reforming leader Deng Xiaoping in 1980. It now has a population of approximately 14 million people drawn from all over the country. The Spectator magazine in London suggested in a 2006 article that 8% of Shenzhen’s then 12 million population were US dollar millionaires. That estimate may be on the high side, particularly as many of Guangdong’s factory owners and business entrepreneurs are Hong Kong residents who commute across the border on a weekly or even daily basis. If close to themark however, it means there could potentially be 112,000 US dollar millionaires in Shenzhen alone. These are exactly the sorts of middle ranking VIPs that NagaWorld is pitched at. NagaWorld accepts VIPs with relatively modest check-in sums (as little as US$5,000 per session and with a ceiling set at US$50,000) compared to Macau where entry level is typically US$50,000 according to some sources. In addition Cambodia has no restrictions on the number of times that Chinese citizens can visit its territory in a single year and 30- day visas are available on arrival for US$20. China by contrast has frequently in the last two years put a cap on how many times its citizens can travel to Macau under the PRC’s personal permit system known as the Individual Visit Scheme. Any expansion of Macau or Macau-style junkets into Cambodia could also have implications for the volumes of business coming into Singapore’sVIPmarket—at least at the lower check in level. That’s because Macau or Macau-style junket operators may be put off applying for an agent licence in Singapore due to the tough financial and personal reporting conditions demanded by the city-state’s Casino Regulatory Authority. Michael Leven, President and Chief Operating Officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp., the developer of the US$6 billion Marina Bay Sands resort due to open in the second Little Macau Cambodia’s NagaCorp targets mid-ranking Chinese VIPs via Macau junkets Dr. Chen Lip Keong