Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming September 2014 60 In Focus in the past as I have experienced, that type of crackdown creates uncertainty, and that uncertainty temporarily slows the VIP market in Macau. Let me emphasize—it’s temporary and it’s cyclical.” Other contributing factors are tight liquidity faced by the junkets, the recent weakness in China’s property sector and general uncertainty surrounding China’s economy. The scale and intensity of China’s campaign to root out corruption among officials at all levels has stepped up this year. Beijing announced at the end of July the graft investigation of former domestic security chief Zhou Yongkang, the most senior Chinese South Korea looks poised to grab a big chunk of the region’s Chinese VIP gaming action W here Macau’s casinos go, South Korea’s follow. Last year, Las Vegas Sands appointed international football star David Beckham as its brand ambassador in Asia. In June this year, South Korean casino operator Paradise named Jose Mourinho, the outspoken manager of English Premier League squad Chelsea, to promote its brand. It’s the latest in a string of initiatives by South Korea’s gaming industry to replicate the magic formula of Macau and comes as Chinese high rollers have recently started shying away from the former Portuguese enclave. Macau posted a 5.8% year-on-year decline in VIP gaming revenue in the second quarter to US$6.71 billion, the biggest percentage decline since Q2 2009, although mass-market revenue still maintained robust growth of 35% in the quarter to US$4.45 billion, accounting for nearly 40% of all gaming revenue. A major driver of Macau’s VIP sector slowdown is Chinese President Xi Jinping’s crackdown on corruption. Sheldon Adelson, chairman of Las Vegas Sands and its local subsidiary Sands China, summed it up on the company’s second-quarter earnings call: “As In Macau’s Footsteps