Inside Asian Gaming

March 2014 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 21 COVER STORY Change is what is driving the company’s thinking on Cotai. “We are mindful,” Mr So said, “this is a new area we have come into in which we compete with the other operators.” So SJM has something to prove with the multibillion-dollar Lisboa Palace, and it plans to do just that. Grant Govertsen, a principal of Las Vegas-based boutique brokerage Union Gaming Group and founder of the firm’s Macau office, was among the numbers guys who came away from the groundbreaking a fan. “We believe that the Lisboa name has exceptionally high name recognition with mainland visitors to Macau and should result in a natural attraction to the site,” he stated in a client note issued the same day. He would have been “disappointed,” he said, if SJM hadn’t brought the brand to Cotai. He likes the overall design, too, the fanciful recreation of a palace in the grand style of Versailles—“certainly not the only new project with a French theme being constructed on Cotai,” he wrote, but “We think the theme resonates well withmainland consumers. Ultimately, mainland consumers view Europe in general and France in specific as very aspirational destinations.” It doesn’t get any more aspirational for China’s nouveau riche millions than Versace, and their participation as a hotel brand—a 270-room “Palazzo Versace” will be one of two six-star hotels at the resort—is part of what stands the project apart from the rest of the lavish competition that will already be up and running when Lisboa Palace opens in 2017 as the last of the six new Cotai megaresorts. Karl Lagerfeld is lending his cachet to the other ultra-luxe room tower. The Karl Lagerfeld Hotel, containing around the same number of rooms as Versace’s, is the famed Chanel designer’s first foray into hospitality. Plans for a third tower, SJM’s own “Lisboa Palace,” call for 1,450 five-star rooms. The Bridal Pavilion reflects the core theme of Lisboa Palace as a blend of Chinese and classical Western architectural motifs. Mass Market Share 2013 Jan ‘14 Sands China 29.7% 30.8% Galaxy Entertainment 16.0% 15.7% Wynn Macau 7.6% 7.0% SJM 26.7% 25.5% Melco Crown 12.9% 13.2% MGM 7.0% 7.9% Figures may not total 100% due to rounding Source: DICJ, company data Slot Market Share 2013 Jan‘14 Sands China 31.2% 30.5% Galaxy Entertainment 12.2 11.8% Wynn Macau 13.5 14.4% SJM 10.0% 9.8% Melco Crown 17.5% 18.0% MGM 15.5% 15.5% Figures may not total 100% due to rounding Source: DICJ, company data