Inside Asian Gaming

October 2014 inside asian gaming 31 Insights is, this is a hidden diamond. They have challenges. They’re a little bit far away from the airport, no locals gaming, I understand all those challenges. But I like it. When you have challenge, that’s the opportunity. And this project is controlled by Harbinger, Phil, and I’ve been talking and been in communication with Phil. So I decided to invest. And Phil loved it. He said, “Chien, come in. You have the background, you have the gaming background, you have the hotel background.” So I came in, not only to bring capital to the project; I bring my experience to help to push this to the next level. That’s my goal. I think we can do that. In my mind there is no doubt this project will be successful. Ho Tram, it’s almost like a landmark in Vietnam. I see Vietnam as one of the most exciting countries for tourism going forward. Vietnam is beautiful. The people over there are educated and very nice. So buy the first, biggest destination for tourism in Vietnam. What I see in Asia, you only have nine major gaming licenses, Las Vegas-style. I’m talking about more than $2 billion investments. Six are in Macau, two in Singapore, one in Vietnam. I know there are different gaming facilities, in Cambodia, the Philippines, South Korea—I’m talking about Las Vegas- style, which is not just gaming, where you have one five-star hotel and you have gaming tables, I’m not talking about that. You need to have different things—golf courses, convention facilities—that mix. So if the definition is that, Asia only has nine. Vietnam is one of them. And this project, you have the gaming license. You have 400 acres of land next to the ocean. And the hotel and gaming facilities are already built. And the golf course, already built. Everything is finished. If you look around now, a lot of major gaming companies are focused on Japan, maybe Taiwan, South Korea. My thinking is, even if you got that license today, it takes you five to seven years to build, to open. But Ho Tram is already open, it’s already there. I’m thinking: this investment is immediate. So I see the opportunity. They’re already built. Everything is there. They have a really excellent product ready. But there are the challenges. It’s difficult to get to, for one thing. But you think about that. From Ho Chi Minh City today it’s two hours’ ride. Used to be three hours, but this year they opened up some of the highway, shortened it to two hours. And I heard, by end of this year, another section of the highway is going to open. So it shortens to one and a half hours. So a one-and-a-half-, two-hour drive. Not that bad. For a lot of people coming from China to Macau it’s about the same. You fly to Guangzhou or drive there. To Hong Kong, it’s one hour on the boat, and you go to the ferry port, you come out, come in, it’s about the same. A little bit “They have challenges. They’re a little bit far away from the airport, no locals gaming, I understand all those challenges. But I like it. When you have challenge, that’s the opportunity.”