Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | September 2013 28 The Asian Gaming 50 – 2013 Certainly she has no bigger fan than Mr Wynn himself. They go back a long way. She worked on the opening of The Mirage on the Las Vegas Strip in 1989 fresh out of Cornell’s prestigious School of Hotel Administration and was involved in the debut of the MGM Grand, which opened in 1993 as the largest hotel in the world. She was executive vice president of international marketing at Bellagio when Mirage Resorts was bought by MGM Grand (now MGM Resorts International), and for two years she headed up international marketing for MGM Mirage, as the merged companies were known at the time. She rejoined Mr Wynn during the run-up to Wynn Resorts’ Nasdaq listing and the opening of Wynn on the Strip. She came to Macau in 2002 after Wynn won its casino concession and was chief operating officer of Wynn Macau. She took on the same title with the listed parent and joined the board of directors when the property went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2009. She also serves as president of Wynn Resorts’ Wynn International Marketing subsidiary. Steve Wynn has referred to her as “a member of my family … virtually one of my own daughters,” and three years ago, he made her one of the highest-paid executives in the industry, and the first woman to crack the top 10, with a 10-year contract that came with a US$10 million bonus, not counting stock and options. Gabe Hunterton knows the value of treating his customers well. Until recently, Mr Hunterton served as COO of Galaxy Entertainment Group’s VIP-centric StarWorld Hotel and Casino on the Macau peninsula. Although StarWorld is disadvantaged by a modest plot size relative to its neighbors—including Wynn Macau, Grand Lisboa and MGM Macau— that limits the range of amenities it can offer, its steadfast commitment to offering high rollers convenience and exemplary service has allowed it to punch well above its weight, earning disproportionately large VIP baccarat revenue relative to its size and development cost—HK$3.4 billion (US$436 million). Mr Hunterton was appointed to head StarWorld in December 2009, with a remit to “develop and refine” the property’s performance and prepare it for the impact of the opening of the far larger and better- appointed US$2.1 billion Galaxy Macau on Cotai, with the inevitable migration of some of StarWorld’s players there. It’s a credit to Mr Hunterton that StarWorld didn’t miss a beat following Galaxy Macau’s May 2011 opening. He has 16 Gabriel Hunterton Deputy Chief Operating Officer Galaxy Macau now been given the bigger job of enhancing the performance of the already successful Galaxy Macau following his appointment as deputy COO of the property in November last year. Mr Hunterton is charged with leading Galaxy Macau’s premium-mass strategy, which is distinguished by the company’s “VIP” approach to delivering service and rewards. Under his watch, in the first two quarters of 2013, Galaxy Macau has grown its share of citywide mass market and slot revenues, contributing to higher operating margins at GEG as it moves steadily away from its previous dependence on the low- margin VIP trade. “We’ve got a lot of chances to be right with the customers,” says Mr Hunterton of the company’s efforts to court the prized premium mass. “We do our best to offer the customer the best possible experience. But at the end of the day, it’s their decision. If they enjoy the trip then we’ve been successful. If they don’t enjoy the trip then we’ve failed.” While growing mass revenue, Mr Hunterton has certainly not neglected the VIP business. The consensus in the industry is that is that he has done a first-rate job on keeping the marriage between GEG and its VIP players and junkets a happy one—first at StarWorld and now at Galaxy Macau. If you speak to executives from the junkets, they consistently single out GEG for praise in terms of its support and fairness toward the trade. Not all theMacau operators have been as consistent in their approach to managing these critical relationships. Mr Hunterton is a 16-year veteran of the gaming industry in Las Vegas and Macau. Prior to joining GEG he spent three years in senior operational and business development leadership roles with MGM Grand Macau. His appointment as deputy COO of Galaxy Macau coincided with Charles So being named deputy COO of StarWorld. Mr So, who had previously overseen hotel operations at StarWorld, has more than 30 years’ experience in hotel ops and F&B service. Advertise with Inside Asian Gaming For advertising enquiries, please email: ads@asgam.com or call +853 2832 9980