Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | July 2012 6 Cover Story taken up the game. There are other benefits as well, less tangible but nonetheless real. Viewed by many as more a contest of skill than a game of chance, poker enjoys a mystique that aspires to the realm of romance, which accounts for its worldwide popularity even among people who don’t play and marks its foremost practitioners as the only gamblers in the world with the name recognition of celebrities. Its appeal is akin to that of a spectator sport, and that gives it credibility as a tourist draw, an amenity that contributes in an important way to rounding out a casino’s overall offering and raising the city’s international profile. In places like the Philippines, which has morethan20licensedpokerrooms,thegame has built a substantial grassroots following. But viewed from the perspective of the casino bottom line in Macau, the returns on this kind of goodwill are a pittancemeasured against the enormity of VIP baccarat, which comprises 70-75%of themarket and by itself generates more than three times the annual revenue of every table and slot machine on the Las Vegas Strip combined. (Actually, Hold ’em has a ways to go to catch up to stud poker in Macau, a game with a much longer lineage in the market and almost five times the annual revenue.) The choice between the miniscule profit from the rake at a poker table and a VIP room table delivering upwards of US$230,000 a day in average win is one that’s already been made for most operators. This is especially true in light of the 3% cap the government has imposed beginning next year on the number of new gaming tables, which, however specious, has even prestigious cash games like those in the poker room at Wynn Macau fighting for survival. It’s a reality to which the authorities themselves have had to accede, and recently they’ve let it be known that they’ll allow 20 poker tables to count as one regular “table” under the cap. Fortunately, there are plenty of aficionados, respected players like Winfred Yu who are also savvy marketers and are determined to secure a future for poker in Macau with creative responses like the Poker King Club on the third floor of Galaxy’s StarWorld, located just behind one of the VIP rooms, whose denizens, interestingly enough, are precisely those whom PKC is set up to attract. Backed by junket operator extraordinaire Suncity Group in partnership with Macau- based Kings Consulting, Poker King Club manages, markets and staffs the room for Galaxy in exchange for a fee, an arrangement that liberates the operator from incurring those costs, thus making it more palatable financially to provide the space. It’s a model employed with great success in casino sports books the world over and one Kings Consulting and Suncity hope to replicate throughout the region. Winfred Yu, a fixture on the big- money Asia circuit and president of Kings Consulting, describes the eight-table room as one that “combines a VIP junket room with mainstream poker”. Elegantly appointed, staffed with hostesses and chip runners and fitted with all the comforts and services a high roller would expect, Poker King Club has become known for hot Sit n’ Go action and especially for its“nosebleed games”—ultra-high-stakes affairs that draw top-name pros from around the world eager for a crack at the bankrolls of a stream of whales normally to be found indulging their lust for risk at private baccarat tables like the ones next door to PKC. Mr Ivey, Mr Dwan, Sam Trickett and Andrew Robl have all been known to stop by for what has become known as the Big Game, where blinds run as high as HK$30,000/$60,000. The idea was devised by Mr Yu, who encourages credit play and set up Poker King Club with the ability to issue markers. “It’s a concept of the VIP junket and poker together, that’s how we built the biggest game in the world.” PKC also employs a host of casino- style innovations the average player would appreciate: like a rewards card that accrues points for the holder and qualifies them to receive gifts, invitations to special events and other perks, a“Refer a Friend”program, and a “Spin to Win” promotion where four times a day a player from each table is selected to try their luck at a wheel for cash and prizes. “The goal, I hope, is that every casino will look at the [Poker King Club] concept and partner with us in all the poker rooms in Macau,” says Mr Yu. “Look at Suncity, how fast they’ve expanded, from one room to 13, and in different countries. We won’t expand that fast, but we want to be operating in the same way across Macau. That’s a win-win, be believe, for everybody, and it will raise the awareness of poker in Mainland China.” To that end, “Poker Secrets,” another Small money—poker revenue in Macau pales in comparison to VIP baccarat “Look at Suncity, how fast they’ve expanded, from one room to 13, and in different countries. We won’t expand that fast, but we want to be operating in the same way across Macau. That’s a win- win, be believe, for everybody, and it will raise the awareness of poker in Mainland China.” Winfred Yu