Inside Asian Gaming

October 2014 inside asian gaming 13 Cover Story there. Macrolink Group, a Shenzhen-listed investment holding company, has teamed up with South Korea’s Black Stone Resort on another Jeju destination that may include a casino. The number of Chinese tourists visiting Jeju has surged 67% in the last five years to reach 1.8 million last year. Nationwide they totaled 4.3 million, a 52% increase over 2012. Through the first half of this year, they accounted for 40% of all foreign tourists. In the country’s 16 foreigners-only casinos they’ve surpassed the Japanese as the principal revenue engine, and two large-scale gaming resorts are under development near the main international airport in Incheon to take those numbers higher—one by Paradise in partnership with Japanese pachinko giant Sega Sammy, the second by an Asian consortium led by Las Vegas-based Caesars Entertainment. Lawrence Ho’s Melco International Development has bought into casino development ventures near Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East, targeting the north China market, and in a mixed-use resort complex envisioned for Barcelona. Europe, an “aspirational” destination among Chinese, is seeing record-high Chinese investment in real estate, driven in no small part by a desire to secure prized “Golden Visas” granting EU residency. Experts say Spain is seen as a particularly attractive country to invest in in this way. Australia has long been popular among Chinese with the wherewithal as a place to live and educate one’s children, and their history as investors there runs long and deep. Federal government data show Chinese buyers now surpass Americans as the biggest foreign investors in property. They are also the continent’s fastest- growing tourist market and its biggest spenders. Their allure has the government of Queensland pursuing the largest casino expansion in A consortium formed by Australia-listed ASF Group, Baha Mar-backer China State Construction and CCCC Guangzhou Dredging is approved for a mixed-use resort in Gold Coast called Broadwater Marine whose plans include a cruise ship terminal and luxury marina. Australian history. The three licenses the state is adding to the four already in place have attracted proposals in the billions of dollars, all backed by deep-pocketed Chinese interests. Mr Fung, a veteran Queensland investor and property owner, has preliminary government approval for Aquis and has bought the Reef Casino Hotel in nearby Cairns (a deal that includes Canberra’s casino in the Australian Capital Territory) and a second non-gaming hotel in Cairns to support the project. A consortium formed by Australia-listed ASF Group, Baha Mar- backer China State Construction and CCCC Guangzhou Dredging is similarly approved for a mixed-use resort in Gold Coast called Broadwater Marine whose plans include a cruise ship terminal and luxury marina. The third license envisions a $1 billion-plus resort casino in Brisbane, the state capital. Greenland Holding Group, a Shanghai- based developer of global stature with $1.5 billion of investments under way in Sydney andMelbourne, is partnering with James Packer’s Crown Resorts on one of the bids. Crown’s rival Echo Entertainment, Brisbane’s incumbent operator, has joined forces with Chow Tai Fook Enterprises and Far East Consortium, both headquartered in Hong Kong, on a competing bid of similar size and scope. Chow Tai Fook’s extensive holdings in property, hospitality and consumer goods include the largest jewelry retailer in the world. Far East, which owns dozens of hotels around the world, is building a $1 billion residential and retail complex in Melbourne and has been a notable player in Australia for years. As Mr Fung puts it, “Everyone is looking at how to take a piece of the Macau pie.”