Inside Asian Gaming

September 2012 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 65 Briefs HK$5 Billion Expansion for Macau Fisherman’s Wharf Macau Legend Development Ltd last month announced a HK5$billion (US$645 million) redevelopment plan for its seven- year-old Macau Fisherman’s Wharf theme park, where Babylon casino is located. According to Macau Legend chief executive David Chow, the redevelopment project, first announced in 2009, has only just now received government approval. In May, Macau Legend merged with Macau Fisherman’s Wharf International Investment Ltd, via a share swap. Macau Fisherman’s Wharf International was founded in 2000 by Mr Chow and Macau casino magnate Stanley Ho to operate Macau Fisherman’s Wharf. To help finance the redevelopment plan, Macau Legend sold 4% of its stock this month to a subsidiary of Mr Ho’s SJM Holdings for HK$480 million. Mr Chow is Macau Legend’s biggest shareholder, with a 33.6% stake, followed by his mother, Lam Fong Ngo, with 24.7%. A former member of the Legislative Assembly, Mr Chow said Macau Legend could go ahead with an initial public offering either in Hong Kong or Singapore if more financing for the Macau Fisherman’s Wharf redevelopment plan was needed. The first phase of the expansion will refurbish the theme park and add two hotels, a yacht club and a dinosaur museum, with fossils on loan from the mainland, according to Mr Chow. It is scheduled to be completed by 2015-end. Macau Legend also owns the five-star Macau Landmark hotel, which includes the Pharaoh’s Palace Casino. Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge Construction on Track The Guangdong Maritime Safety Administration recently conducted a safety management conference and announced that the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge project, and sea reclamation work for the Macau-Zhuhai checkpoint island, is two-thirds complete. The 208 hectare island is one of the four artificial islands being constructed for this project and will house immigration checkpoints for both Macau and Zhuhai. In addition to the artificial islands, the 50,000 meter bridge will also include a main bridge section together with several linked roads connecting to various points like Hengqin (Zhuhai) and Tuen Mun (Hong Kong). Once completed, the drive time between Hong Kong and Macau/ Zhuhai will decrease to 30 minutes from 4-5 hours currently and it is expected that by 2035, the bridge traffic will grow to up to 250,000 persons per day. Union Gaming believes the construction progress for the bridge and associated projects are all in line with the scheduled 2016 deadline. It adds: “Like many other massive infrastructure projects in Macau and China (e.g. high-speed rail, Macau light rail, Cotai Ferry Terminal expansion), the bridge should be a key component of expanding mass-market visitation to Macau on a longer-term basis, especially from HK given the easier access. In 1H12, a total of 3.5 million visitors came from the Hong Kong, which accounts for 26% of total visitation to Macau.” New PRC Policy Allows for More Flexible Travel Hukou is China’s residency registration system generally based on place of birth/family location and is where a person can claim education and healthcare benefits. For example, a person born in Chengdu (Sichuan province) will always be considered a resident of Chengdu under the Hukou system—even if that person has “moved” to Shenzhen to work in a factory. As such, the population of a city like Shenzhen is always going to be higher than the number of registered residents living there since migrants to Shenzhen are not classified as Shenzhen residents. According to a Union Gaming note, China’s Ministry of Public Security has announced that non- Hukou residents who work or study in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen will be able to apply for individual entry-exit travel documents, which includes visas to Macau and Hong Kong, locally starting from1st September. Those eligible can apply at a local entry- exit bureau, whereas before non- Hukou residents were required to apply via their hometown bureau (in other words they would have to make a special trip to their home province so that they could get an entry-exit visa). There are a very large number of non- Hukou residents living in the six cities in this new scheme. While there are likely tens of millions of migrant workers collectively working in these six cities, Union Gaming estimates the actual number who might be eligible to participate in the initial implementation of the scheme number at least 8million. Importantly, Union Gaming believes that nearly half of those estimated 8 million eligible persons live in either Guangzhou or Shenzhen, which enjoy superior access to Macau relative to the rest of China. While difficult to quantify, this new scheme should have an incrementally positive impact on visitation to Macau. Of the six cities, four are connected to Macau via direct flights, while Guangzhou and Shenzhen are located within Guangdong province and therefore alreadyhaverelativelyeasyaccesstoMacauviagroundtransportation or ferry service. By early next year access to Guangzhou will improve via the 45-minute direct train service to Macau (Gongbei) and the expanded immigration buildings. Macau Fisherman’s Wharf Rendering of checkpoint island