Inside Asian Gaming

August 2010 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 7 Peter Johns—amazing pick up in carded play lot of people use them [cards]. Most people consider the Asian player an uneducated slot player. But we see the opposite. They’re quite a savvy player. They know they’re getting tracked and the reasons. They know we give them loyalty cards so that we can get information on them, so we can segment them in the market. We’re able to get some great information on our player profiles, which helps us in our product selection. The players’ club works really well at MGM. Being able to segment players is vitally important in this market. I think more so than other jurisdictions. That’s because our player base is so diverse. Our customers understand the players’ club concept; they know how to use it. It may take them a little while to get savvy to it when they first come on board, but from what I see of the players we get they generally sign up within the first couple of hours of coming onto our property. Lindsay Stewart: We’ve had some technology issues that have got in the way in the last few years. We haven’t been able to take advantage of our size—our critical mass—as a marketing component. Not all our slots are systemised yet. Once that happens, we hope within 12 to 18 months we will have far more firepower in terms of being competitive with these big guys. Oncewe have a critical mass ofmachines, we hope to introduce wide area jackpots and prizes to bring SJM to the forefront of the industry here. We need to put the groundwork in place before we can focus on those specific strategies. We’re doing the normal stuff. Embracing the members we have, metering the visitors we get, trying to increase their stays and getting their friends and families in too. MP: Tell us a story illustrating how slots have grown in prominence. LS: From 0.8% of [Macau] casino GGR [gross gaming revenue] in 2003 to 5.4% of GGR in 2009 is a significant growth phase [for slots] when you consider the [overall] GGR has grown so exponentially—314% in fact. The players are out there, and we haven’t really seen the biggest proportion of take up yet either, I don’t think. Chinaisthefastestgrowingelectronically literate country in the world, with 48% Cover Story