Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | May 2012 58 INSIGHTS Lush inside and out—MGM Grand Ho Tram hotel room mock up There have been some purported multi-billion dollar projects proposed, including one near Ho Tram. What’s happening with all those? It is very difficult to open a newspaper and not see some other project being announced. All of those projects tend to be aspirational. They do not have a gaming license. They do not have funding and they do not have land, or cleared land. We tend to be focused on what we are doing, and as we sit here today, we are 10 months away from opening. We are fitting out the interior of our building, and we are highly focused on marketing the property. And we are the only large-scale casino resort under development in Vietnam. And, actually, over the next few years, you’ll be one of the few major openings in the [Asia] region, apart from the Philippines. It is an interesting thing, because the Philippines is obviously a tremendous market, and it has attracted a lot of very able players. The issue there for major US brands is the way the Philippines is structured with PAGCOR [Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation] operating and regulating, it is a barrier to entry for a major US brand. If you look at the Asian landscape over the next five years, it is our belief that we are the only opening for a major US brand. And again, I underline the word opening. There are plenty of markets out there that are looking to develop their markets and enable casinos to open, but as far as one actually opening with amajor US brand over the next five years, we believe we are the only one. So you don’t believe Japan’s going to happen? You don’t believe Taiwan will happen, or Korea will open its locals market more? These are some of the expected, or hoped for new openings in Asia over the next few years. There are some great developments happening. As you know, Taiwan has passed enabling legislation allowing some of the offshore islands to have a referendum on whether or not they would like casino gaming. It failed in Penghu, andmaybe it will succeed a second time around. But when you look at the actual timeline of what it takes to get from the enabling legislation to a casino opening, I do not think that Taiwan, or South Korea or Japan will see an opening in the next five years. But that is not in any way to diminish the very positive happenings that are occurring in those markets. For ACDL, Vietnam is a first entry into gaming and into resorts in Asia. Do you see it acting as a calling card in future for you? We would hope so. We are very focused right now on the opening of the MGM [Grand Ho Tram], and we’ve got plenty to keep us busy over the next several years. We have five resorts to build, a golf course to develop, and other real estate developments that we have ancillary to that. But without a doubt, we are keeping an eye on the rest of Asia, and we do believe it will be a very strong calling card as we look at other places.