Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming September 2014 24 GEG has certainly come a long way in developing its mass business in the past three years, following the May 2011 opening of the US$2.1 billion Galaxy Macau. Prior to that, it had been a VIP-centric company, operating StarWorld on theMacau peninsula since 2006. Galaxy Macau’s arrival could not have been timed better, coming just as China’s burgeoning middle class created a fundamental shift in the dynamics of the market away from VIP and toward the mass. Michael Mecca joined GEG in March 2009 in the run-up to the opening of Galaxy Macau. His mission, said Deputy Chairman Francis Lui, was to take the company “to the next level in its development as a leading Asian gaming corporation”. A big part of Mr Mecca’s job, as he saw it, was to take the strong customer service standards established at StarWorld, the company’s previous flagship, and transplant them to the much larger Galaxy Macau. “StarWorld has always been one of the most prominent VIP casinos anywhere in the world,” he says, “and our responsibility at Galaxy Macau was to ensure we gave that same level of welcome and memorable experience as our VIPs have always enjoyed with us to our mass players and premium-direct players.” Mr Mecca and his team have made steady gains in drawing mass players, initially outstripping GEG’s rivals in growing mass revenues, but the latest figures suggest Galaxy Macau is in need of a boost. The property’s retail complement in particular appears to be lacking, with 35 stores hardly sufficient to cater to all the needs of its main-floor visitors. Fortunately, the property’s shopping and other offerings will receive a major upgrade come mid-2005, when Phase 2 is unveiled at a cost of US$2.5 billion, doubling the size of the resort, adding as many as 500 gaming tables and JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels with a total of 1,300 rooms. Furthermore, Phase 2 will have more than 200 shops and more than 100 F&B outlets. While focused on overseeing the expansion, Mr Mecca is mindful of the need to continue nurturing the company’s frontline staff to ensure guests receive the coveted “World Class, Asian Heart” experience promised in its marketing campaigns. “We spend a great deal of time and energy training our people on a regular, ongoing basis,” he says. “We have dedicated people in every department who spend their entire time on the floor, and there are impactful behaviors that we monitor that are all geared towards providing the required level of service. You’ll see that every one of the security guards, as you enter, they’ll make a motion of welcome. And the dealers, after each hand, they’ll look up at the customers and make sure everything is OK. Every department in the property participates in the program, and our goal is to provide a level of service second to none in the industry.” Prior to joining GEG, Mr Mecca served as president and CEO of Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas and held senior executive roles at Mandalay Resort Group, Caesars World, Crown and Las Vegas locals giant Station Casinos. He has more than 30 years of experience in the hotel and gaming industries. The head of government of the largest casino market in the world was returned to office last month by the decision of an elite committee of 400. Angela Leong was one of those who cast a vote. The 53-year-old Guangzhou native, a former dancer and the mother of five of Stanley Ho’s 17 children, has ridden a dazzling upward trajectory, emerging a few years back from a bruising family battle for control of the ailing tycoon’s empire as the largest individual Angela Leong Executive Director SJM Holdings Managing Director Sociedade de Jogos de Macau shareholder of SJM Holdings, the Hong Kong-listed parent of the casino operating giant he founded, and one of the most powerful individuals in Macau gaming, indeed, one of the wealthiest in the Pearl River Delta, with a net worth estimated by Forbes at US$2.3 billion. Her property holdings, described as “vast” by The Wall Street Journal , include a significant interest in L’Arc Macau—a 56-story casino hotel that includes private residences, retail shops and a 10,000-square- meter gaming floor that operates as one of 14 independent sub- licensees of SJM—and a massive plot of land on Cotai adjoining the site where SJM’s $3.9 billion Lisboa Palace is under construction. She is a director and owns one of the largest personal equity stakes in SJM’s biggest investor, STDM, the Hong Kong company that ran the Ho casinos in the monopoly era and whose far-flung holdings include interests in banking, retail, property development, transportation and infrastructure and, of course, gaming. She also controls 10% of SJM’s operating company, Sociedade de Jogos de Macau, and is its managing director. She is also vice chair of the Macau Jockey Club and heads a trade group representing the city’s junket operators and promoters.