Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | June 2011 30 S everal Las Vegas casino operators like to claim credit for the invention of the integrated gaming resort concept. What’s beyond doubt is that MGM—in its different corporate incarnations over the years—is a pioneer in putting gambling, entertainment and corporate events all on one site. It did that initially in Las Vegas, but has since exported the model to other markets. It’s also a pioneer in developing networks of such venues and then marketing the network—both within specific national markets and cross-border—in an integrated way. That has helped MGM and the industry as a whole build the revenues of all three business segments within the integrated resorts (gaming, hospitality and MICE), rationalise the costs base of the businesses and smooth the seasonal volatility previously associated with Las Vegas and other gaming resorts as holiday venues. Now MGM Resorts International—in a branding and management agreement with owner and developer Asian Coast Development (Canada) Ltd—is bringing that principle to a newAsian gaming and entertainment resort. The Ho Tram Strip—a coastal development in the south of Vietnam, is around 120 kilometres from the country’s largest metropolis, Ho Chi Minh City, and its population of over 10 million people. The first of five resorts, branded as MGM Grand Ho Tram, is to be launched in two phases. Phase one, featuring a 13,600 square meter casino with 90 live table games and 500 electronic games, is currently under construction and will open in the first quarter of 2013. That initial stage will also feature the launch of high quality leisure and entertainment products, including the five-star MGM Grand Ho Tram hotel with 541 rooms. The second phase will see a further 500 electronic games added to the casino offer, another 559 hotel rooms and villas, plus a full range of retail, dining and conference facilities. There is also an 18-hole golf course designed by champion golfer Greg Norman. If any casino operator in the world can make the MGM Grand Ho Tramasuccess,thenitmustsurelybeMGMResorts.Theentertainment and resort part of the offer will be not merely a bolt-on—as happens in some other Asian projects touting ‘integrated resort’ status—but central to the scheme. When Jim Murren, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MGM Resorts International, visited the Ho Tram site in November, he Sky’s the Limit Vietnam’s MGM Grand Ho Tram gaming resort has pedigree and first mover advantage on its side MGM Grand Ho Tram hotel tower takes shape in Vietnam