Inside Asian Gaming

government of the PRC—insiders describe her as the force behind the scenes of the company’s competitiveness inMacau’s all-important VIP sector, managing key relationships, maintaining corporate credibility, refusing the temptation to overpay for business as some have and making it stick as a policy geared to long-term growth. MrWynn has referred to her as“amember of my family…virtually one of my own daughters.” But then the two go back a long way. She was an eyewitness to the dawn of the new Las Vegas, having worked on the opening of The Mirage back in 1989, fresh out of Cornell University’s prestigious School of Hotel Administration. At 31, she was Bellagio’s executive vice president of international marketing and stayed on in that role after Mirage Resorts was purchased by MGM Grand (now MGM Resorts International). She rejoined her mentor in the run-up to the listing of Wynn Resorts on Nasdaq and the opening of Wynn on the Las Vegas Strip, and in 2003 moved to Macau to play a pivotal role in the opening of Wynn Macau, where she has overseen the growth of the listed China subsidiary into a company worth US$3.8 billion last year in operating revenues. In 2010, Wynn Resorts made Ms Chen the fifth-highest-paid executive among Las Vegas-based companies—and the first women to crack the top 10—with a 10-year contract that matches Mr Wynn’s own in duration and paid her US$6.2 million last year. The contract included a $10 million bonus. The company also provided her a $5 million home for her use in Macau. At 70, Steve Wynn is accustomed to talk in the media about an heir apparent and invariably he brushes it aside. But at one point earlier this year the question came up, and he replied cagily: “If you ask me who could do it? A Chinese woman.” 13 Edward Tracy President, CEO, Executive Director Sands China Ed Tracy was nowhere in the picture back when Sheldon Adelson first envisioned building a company around which Macau could be made into an Asian Las Vegas. But if he had been, the path to its realization might have been a bit straighter and a lot smoother. Much like his immediate superior, Michael Leven, the avuncular COO of Sands China parent Las Vegas Sands Corp, Mr Tracy has brought stable growth to a company which for all its size and obvious influence in the marketplace hasn’t benefited from a lot of stability at the top. His effectiveness is borne out by the numbers. Net revenues across Sands China’s three operating resorts last year were up 17.8%, with all segments of the business showing robust gains. Total gaming revenue was up 15.5%, driven by a notable increase (16.6%) in rolling chip volume, which has been one of the keys to evaluating his performance as CEO, a title he’s held only since last July. Hismarchingorders at that timewere to re-establish the company as a force at the high endof themarket, and this he has done, restoring junket relationships that had been allowed to wither under previous management and building new ones. As a special advisor and later a member of the board of directors’ Capital Expenditure Committee