Inside Asian Gaming

May 2012 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 55 INSIGHTS metropolis of around 10-12 million people. In addition, you have 6 million visitors from overseas coming to Vietnam. When we first looked at this project when I was still with MGM, there were about 4 million visitors coming, and that has gone up to six million. There will be multiple modalities of travel down to the site. Some of the customers will come by helicopter directly from the airport in Ho Chi Minh to our site. We have a landing pad on site, which is part of our investment certificate. Others will come by road. It is always very interesting with the road, because people have this perception that it takes three or four hours, which incidentally it did a number of years ago. You and I traveled the road together this morning, and you will have seen there are construction vehicles on the entire road and Highway 51 which connects Ho Chi Minh City to Ba-Ria Vung Tau has gone from two lanes to four lanes, and in some places six lanes. So the road improvement has been dramatic, which we are delighted by, and those road improvements will be in place before we open in the first quarter of next year. The other modalities that will be used will include ferries. People can come from the ferry terminal, which is in District 1 of Ho Chi Minh City, and take a ferry directly to VungTau. Ultimately, we expect them to take a ferry directly to the site. And, of course, the Long Thanh Airport will come on line in a number of years, and that will be about 45 minutes from our site. And of course your site offers a completely different value proposition to the other gaming hubs in Asia that are closer to the airport. It’s something quite unique. An important point. I think when you look at the size of the market in Asia, ultimately Vietnam presents a compelling alternative to Macau or to Singapore. But one of the key differentiating factors of our project is the site itself. It is one of stunning beauty—2.2km of beach. So whereas there are many resorts that are looking to create artificial beaches and artificial wave pools, we actually have the real thing on our doorstep. And it is a true family destination type of place that people will feel comfortable to bring their family to, and the type of place that will appeal to gamers and non-gamers alike. Do you expect non-gaming to be a significant contributor going forward? It will be a contributor. In terms of significance, it is likely that gaming will be higher than the non-gaming. But again, taking the perspective that there are 8 million Vietnamese people who currently visit Ba Ria-Vung Tau province annually as tourists, and many people go down to Vung Tau as a weekend destination break, we are very hopeful that a lot of those people will be delighted to come visit us and enjoy a lot of the non-gaming amenities that we will have to offer. What are the restrictions on your license in terms of gaming capacity? What’s the limit of tables and slots that you are currently allocated? The entire development is five resorts and a championship golf course, which we are having designed by Greg Norman, and some ancillary real estate development related to that. Over 405 acres, or 164 hectares. Of those five resorts, we have an allocation of 180 live tables and 2,000 electronic gaming machines. Now we have that configured so that the first two resorts—the first to be run by MGM and the second by Pinnacle—will have 90 live tables each, and 1,000 electronic gaming machines each. You mentioned Pinnacle, who is a partner now in the project. They took a 26% stake last year in the project. What have they brought to the table so far? We were delighted after that transaction closed when Anthony Sanfilippo, who is the president and CEO of Pinnacle, and Carlos Ruisanchez, who is the CFO of Pinnacle, joined our board. Their presence on the board has contributed meaningfully to this company’s continued success. And it is more than just the board level. In fact, at the end of last year, a very talented individual was seconded to us from Pinnacle to Asian Coast, and has been very, very helpful on operational matters and logistics as we get closer to our opening. And then, ultimately, we will work very closely with Pinnacle on the second resort. We will work together from concept to opening, and then Pinnacle will manage the resort moving forward. Of course the first phase will be managed by MGM Resorts International. I guess you’ve also been similarly involved with them in the conceptualization and development of the first phase? MGM have been present in Asia for over 30 years, and they have a deep, deep Ho Tram renderings