Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | October 2013 12 COVER STORY reports on Crown Colombo mention only a 400-room luxury hotel with a price tag of US$350 million and a 2016 opening. Plans initially called for a 36-story hotel tower but that was scrapped at the insistence of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, who was said to be concerned about preserving views of the lake. ASX-listed Crown, Australia’s dominant operator and a 33% stakeholder in Macau casino giant Melco Crown Entertainment, was not amused by the Defense minister’s interference, according to reports. (The company did not respond to a request for comment.) Revised plans call for two smaller towers, and Mr Packer’s local partner, Ravi Wijeratne, the country’s largest casino operator, probably had a hand in smoothing things over. “Ravi happens to be a childhood friend of the president,”says Mr Thadani.“And that’s something that is publicly well known.” HVS represented Mr Wijeratne a couple of years ago in negotiations with MGM Resorts International about a possible tie- up in Colombo, and “He is extremely well- positioned,” Mr Thadani says of him, “so therefore getting approvals and licenses and so forth is not much of a challenge.” John Keells isn’t going to be challenged much in this respect either. It’s one of the island’s most respected commercial names, its forebears having started out in the 19th century as tea growers and exporters in the days of the British Raj. in net income in the latest financial year on group revenues that were up 10% to 85.56 billion Sri Lanka rupees (US$651.4 million). The leisure business, which generated 34% of 2013’s pre-tax earnings, includes 12 resort hotels in Sri Lanka and the Maldives under the Cinnamon, Chaaya and Bentota brands. The Cinnamon Grand and Cinnamon Lakeside are two of the best-known hotels in Colombo. The latter occupies seven acres along Beira Lake, where the company will be siting its casino. This will be developed in phases: the first, priced at US$650 million, calls for a five-star hotel with 800 rooms, a convention center, a shopping mall, entertainment facilities, luxury condominiums, serviced apartments and office space. It will be “iconic,” the company has told its shareholders. “It will aesthetically and functionally add to transforming the landscape of Colombo, Plantations are still part of the Keells portfolio, but the conglomerate as it exists today encompasses everything from consumer goods and financial services to transportation, property development and information technology. Listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange under the ticker JKH, the company posted a 26% increase HVS represented Ravi Wijeratne a couple of years ago in partnership talks with MGM Resorts International that never materialized, but as the firm’s Manav Thadani says of him, “He is extremely well- positioned.” John Keells’ resort casino will be developed in phases: the first, priced at US$650 million, calling for a five-star hotel with 800 rooms, a convention center, a shopping mall, entertainment facilities and luxury condominiums and serviced apartments and office space. It will be “iconic,” the company says. The government has intervened twice to prop up Colombo’s sagging room rates. No one is revealing Goa’s real revenues.