Inside Asian Gaming

March 2010 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 45 Briefs The Melco parent is also a joint venture partner with Australian casino company Crown Ltd in Melco Crown Entertainment (Nasdaq: MPEL) the developer and operator of the gaming resort City of Dreams on Cotai, Macau, and the VIP- focused casino Altira Macau in nearby Taipa, Macau. The ski resort is likely to provide opportunities for Melco to cross- promote MPEL’s Macau holidays and entertainment to well-heeled Mainland residents. Club Med has decided to strengthen its presence in China by opening five venues between 2010 and 2014. The company said its aim is to attract 5% to 10% of China’s potential 4- and 5-star resort customers by 2015. That could mean a database of 200,000 upscale Chinese holidaymakers. MPEL announced during a conference call for its fourth quarter 2009 results it would not be going ahead with plans for a third casino in Macau—a US$675 million effort on the territory’s peninsula with the working title ‘Trinity’. MPEL said that it had receivedaUS$12million refund inDecember 2009 on a deposit it had paid several years ago to secure land from the Macau government for the project. Air Macau to launch direct Tokyo service Air Macau is to start direct flights between Macau and Tokyo, Japan, three times a week from 28th March. The number of Japanese visitors to Macau per year has more than tripled since 2004 according to Macau’s Statistics and Census Bureau, reaching 379,241 in 2009. Currently Air Macau, the territory’s flagship carrier, operates a daily flight between Macau and Osaka. Low-cost airline Viva Macau flies from Macau to Tokyo four times a week. In January Macau International Airport recorded 358,902 passengers, a year-on-year increase of 4.8% compared to the equivalent month in 2009. Hong Kong court boosts confidence in Macau ‘markers’ A court ruling in Hong Kong could prove encouraging to Macau casino operators interested in offering direct credit to Asian high rollers. Just before the Lunar New Year holiday, Hong Kong’s High Court ruledVIP player HenryMongHengli was liable to pay back a gambling debt of more than HK$30 million run up at Wynn Macau. Justice Carlye Chu Fun-ling rejected Mr Mong’s defence that a credit agreement or marker signed by him was unenforceable. Mr Mong’s lawyers in the groundbreaking case had argued that, among other issues, the credit agreement between Mong and Wynn did not receive advance approval from the Macau gaming regulator. In 2004, Macau passed its first legislation on gaming credit, but to date Wynn appears to be the first casino operator to attempt to recoup debts through the courts in either Macau or Hong Kong. Gambling debts are not legally enforceable via the courts in the People’s Republic of China, the jurisdiction from where many Macau high rollers originate. InMacau itself, the government has regulations (first developed in 2004) to register and regulate gambling credit agreements, but there is still some uncertainty as to whether such agreements are executable via the Macau courts. VIPs with Hong Kong assets are thought to make up a significant proportion of the high limits players in Macau. If the casinos are able to advance them credit directly rather dealing with them via gambling agents, the operators can make a better margin on their play. Casinos are more likely to enter into such agreements if they are confident they can execute on the deals in the event of disputes or default. Chinese soccer corruption boosts punters’ faith in Euro leagues The influence of unregulated sport betting in China has been highlighted by disciplinary action taken against two of the country’s most prominent soccer teams. Guangzhou GPC and Chengdu Blades of the Chinese Super League—the top tier of club soccer in the People’s Republic— face relegation due to allegations of match fixing by officials and gambling by officials and players. Chengdu Blades is owned by Sheffield United, a club in the second tier of English football that carries the nickname ‘The Blades’ in commemoration of the latter city’s history as a steel- making centre. QingdaoHailifeng, a club from the second tier of Chinese football, has also been investigated and faces expulsion from the professional game in China. All the teams are expected to appeal against the ruling by the Chinese Football League (CFA). But the English language newspaper China Daily said the prospects of success were not strong, citing “a mountain of evidence” against the clubs. For a nation of 1.3 billion people passionate about soccer, China has produced consistently lacklustre performances at international competition level. Since the national team was set up in 1924, and even accounting for the country’s international isolation between the establishment of Communist government in 1949 and the beginning of economic reform in 1979, China has qualified only once for the FIFA World Cup finals. That was in 2002 when it was knocked out in the first stage. It drew a blank again in the campaign for the 2010 finals in South Africa. After recent investigations by the CFA, the reasons for that weakness at international level appear to be clearer. Along with allegations that players gambled on games in which they were personally involved, are claims that some players paid for places at the national team’s training camp and for the right to appear in international matches. It has also been alleged some club representatives conspired to fix match results and to bribe referees. The level of alleged corruption in Chinese club football probably accounts in large part for the popularity of European professional leagues by customers and bookmakers in the regulated and unregulated sport betting market serving China and the rest of Asia. Ski resort in China: Photo courtesy of Marc van der Chijs Hong Kong High Court