Inside Asian Gaming

September 2012 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 45 machine games on a revenue-sharing basis, most of it in Cambodia and the Philippines. Currently, more than 40% of the company’s distribution is concentrated with a single customer—NagaCorp’s Phnom Penh flagship, NagaWorld—and that agreement expires in 2016. As for the emerging-markets focus, it’s a familiar one for EGT dating back to its Elixir days, and by all appearances it’s a sound one. While NagaCorp has a monopoly in Phnom Penh, the rest of Cambodia is free for casino development. The border areas are also closer than the capital to the key feeder markets of Thailand and Vietnam. Similarly, the purchase some years back of Dolphin Products, an Australia-based, Asia-facing supplier of chips and plaques, has enabled EGT to broaden its appeal and gain access to Macau and other big- time casino markets. Mr Chung came to EGT with a strong background in management and finance, most recently as an investment banker at Lazard and a vice president of Pacific Century Group. He also serves as an executive director of Hong Kong-listed Melco International Development, a major shareholder in EGT. Certainly the investment community likes the way he thinks. Since he took over as CEOof Elixir inOctober 2008, the company’s stock price has doubled, outperforming both the Hang Seng and the S&P 500. 42 Clarence Chung Chairman and CEO Entertainment Gaming Asia Clarence Chung has his work cut out for him, taking US-listed Entertainment Gaming Asia, formerly Elixir Gaming Technologies, from its roots as a supplier and operator of machine games into a developer of casinos in its own right. If that’s not enough of a challenge, he is trying to remake the company in Cambodia, and primarily in the border areas of the country, historically dodgy locations best known for semi-legal, gray-area gaming operations. While it’s too early to tell yet whether it’s a winning strategy, early reviews about and feedback on EGT’s first DreamWorld- branded casino, which opened in May at the Pailin border crossing with Thailand, are positive. The facility, with about 50 machines and 12 tables, is said to be in a more sophisticated league altogether compared with the local competition. Next up is DreamWorld Poipet, located at a more active Thai checkpoint. That operation is on schedule to open in early 2013. A third DreamWorld, planned for Kompot, will target players from Vietnam. EGT’s push to diversify is a tribute to Mr Chung’s ability to look beyond the company’s traditional role as a supplier and operator of Asian Gaming 50 – 2012