Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | September 2011 22 Asian Gaming 50 – 2011 Alvin Chau is not only the most dapper entrant in the top ten of the Asian Gaming 50 list, but he, along with his Suncity Group,has also experienced the most meteoric rise. Although Suncity Group was only set up in 2007, it has become a force to be reckoned with, as one of the big four junket operations in Macau that control around 80% of the local VIP baccarat market—worth US$6.1 billion in the second quarter of this year (and equivalent to 74.0% of Macau’s total casino gaming revenue in the period). Suncity Group runs VIP clubs at 11 Macau venues—the newest club, spanning 20,000+ square feet, is the Galaxy Suncity VIP Club, unveiled at the Galaxy Macau resort opening in May. Suncity also runs a high roller operation at Paradise Walkerhill casino in South Korea, and has representative offices in Japan, Thailand and Taiwan. By many reports, Suncity is the major Macau junket that has progressed the most over the past twelve months, and that is perhaps a function of the youth and vigour of the 37-year-old Mr Chau. The group strives to distinguish itself from its junket rivals by providing its clients the most complete and highest-quality range of supporting amenities and services, and to that end, has invested heavily in businesses outside the gaming realm. In 2008, the group established Sun City Tours, which offers comprehensive travel agency services in Macau. Suncity also owns chic entertainment venues, including Club Lotus nightclub at Venetian Macao, which regularly hosts the world’s top DJs and music acts. Macau’s trendy set are also eagerly awaiting Suncity’s Sky 21 Bar and Restaurant, which is now under renovation and is set to open atop AIA Tower at the end of 2011. Suncity’s media vehicles often bolster its gaming and tourism businesses. ‘Poker King’ was designed to support Suncity’s efforts to develop poker’s following among baccarat-focused Chinese players. Chinese high rollers at Suncity’s Poker King Club in Macau’s 8 (8) Alvin Chau Chairman Sun City Group 9 (9) Kwon Oh-nam President and Chief Executive Grand Korea Leisure StarWorld Casino now play for the biggest pots in the world. Suncity’s poker effort is also supported by its Poker King magazine, while e.traveller magazine and UO Macau—the leading website for Chinese visitors to Macau—help drive visitors not only into Suncity’s arms, but also to Macau as a whole. Although many of Mr Chau’s non-gaming investments are intended to bolster Suncity’s core activities, others have larger standalone aspirations. Sun Entertainment Group, set up in 2008, has financed and produced big-budget films and is set to release several more potential blockbusters over the coming months. Mr Chau has also invested in big-name concerts—“Amit first World Tour Live Macau”, staged in December 2009, and “2011 Wakin Chau Diva Live Concert”, in August this year, both at the Cotai Arena in Venetian Macao. Mr Chau’s continues to expand his all-inclusive branded experience with recent acquisitions in finance, media, and health and beauty across the Hong Kong, Macau, and China regions. Suncity Group’s business interests go even further afield, and include the development, marketing and production of software, and even an 80 million ton capacity iron mine in Indonesia. The odds are favourable that Mr Chau’s stratospheric rise in gaming is soon likely to be replicated in any one of his new chosen business interests. Grand Korea Leisure (GKL) is a semi- privatised owner and operator of three foreign-players-only casinos in South Korea withgoodconnections to thegovernment. In the foreigners-only segment it is the biggest operator by gross gaming revenue (GGR) in the country with around 54% of a market worth annually around US$1 billion—and rising. The domestic market, served by just one casino—Kangwon Land—is worth another US$1 billion annually. The government recently announced that in 2015 it will end the monopoly of Kangwon Land as the only one of the country’s 17 casinos allowed to cater for South Korean nationals (the others can only serve foreigners or Koreans with foreign passports and/or foreign residency). South Korea alsoplans to allowup to five integrated gaming resorts (IRs) of international standard in the country in the next decade or so. GKL floated 30% of its stock on the Seoul stock exchange in November 2009. There was talk of more stock being sold off to private investors, but currently the company is still majority-owned by the South Korean government. Kwon Oh-nam, the company’s President and CEO, has the ear of many lawmakers and civil servants from his days as a senior executive at the Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency.