Inside Asian Gaming

April 2012 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 35 INSIGHTS gaming industry is lifting all the operators’ fortunes. But what have you done in particular to improve margins and drive operating efficiencies to strengthen your financial position? You know, in a property the scope of Galaxy Macau, there is a ramping up period. It took several months to open all of our 2,200 hotel rooms. It took a few months to open all of our food outlets and to understand the flow of our guests through the casino. And through that process, the effectiveness of the opening and making sure that our “World Class Asian Heart” service was presented in every area became a process of becoming more efficient as well. And through the ramping up process, through understanding the resort, through understanding our guests and the flow of our guests through this magnificent resort, the efficiencies started coming into play. And we can see over this period of time, over this first year of operation, the ramping up of efficiencies, the margins have become greater. And we are very pleased that the progress that we have made in becoming not only a great, spectacular destination resort, but a more efficient resort as well. Are you still ramping up, or do you feel you’ve hit your stride? Well, I think, as you know, recently with the opening of our nine-cinema complex, with the red carpet event of the new Jet Li movie, and with the opening of China Rouge, the most spectacular live performance venue anywhere, we are now completing all of the amenities of phase one. We are still adding new restaurants, we are still adding more retail to phase one, but phase one has evolved and has become, we believe, the most spectacular casino resort in the entire world. There’s been a lot of speculation about who will get permission to build on Cotai next. But one thing that’s sometimes overlooked is that Galaxy Macau sits on the largest land bank on Cotai and you’re free to expand it in additional phases? You’re exactly right. What have you got planned in terms of additional development on Cotai? As we have been master planning the entire piece of land that we have, you made the point that Galaxy Macau, as significant as the scope of this resort is, it sits on only one-third of the land base. It gives us a great opportunity to understand the market and grow with the market. It gives us a great opportunity to listen to the guests that come to Macau, to listen to all of the guests that come to Galaxy Macau and build our next phase to the requests and the desires of the guests that come here. So the master planning goes on. Actually, the master planning for phase two is well advanced, and there will be some significant news about the specific amenities of phase two soon. Unlike the other Macau casino operators who seem to be making ever-larger dividend payments, Galaxy has decided not to offer a dividend to shareholders. Is that part of a strategy to maintain a strong cash position to fund this further development and growth? As you know, we have a significant cash position because of the great performance of StarWorld, our City Clubs and Galaxy Macau. We have always intended to ensure a great return to our shareholders, and we also want to make sure that in the development of phase two that we use our capital very wisely. Fine-dining draw—Belon, Banyan Tree Macau’s signature restaurant Still growing—Galaxy Macau Pan-Asian Heart— lobby of Hotel Okura at Galaxy Macau