Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming MAY 2015 16 Cover Story the best gaming destination in Indochina and to be poised to move into other opportunities in Indochina.” NagaWorld has expanded over the years into the biggest gaming resort in Indochina with gross floor area of 113,307 square meters (1.2 million square feet). It currently has some 200 tables, 1,670 gaming machines, 18 food and beverage outlets and 700 five-star hotel rooms with rack rates starting at $105 a night. It also has banquet and meeting space, entertainment in the lobby as well as on the gaming floor and a spa with a whirlpool bath in every treatment room. Total investment has been around $300 million; Mr McNally says a similar facility in Macau would cost well over $1 billion. Naga2, under construction across the street, will double capacity when it opens in 2017. Dr Chen is financing that $369 million project, which NagaCorp will acquire upon completion in exchange for company shares. Meanwhile, NagaWorld keeps evolving and innovating. Focused on serving low-end junkets in its early days, NagaWorld set its sights on serving the mass market after its hotel and entertainment wings were completed in 2008. The transition to mass proved presecient when in early 2009 Cambodian authorities shut down Phnom Penn’s slot parlors, which had operated thousands of machines; NagaWorld’s slot revenue increased from $3.1 million in 2008 to $34.3 million in 2009. NagaWorld debuted dealer-assisted electronic multi-game terminals in 2011. CELL DIVISON NagaWorld also added what it calls casino cells with unique décor and themes, including the China Garden with pagodas and live plants, NagaRock with disco lights and dancers, and Saigon Palace, appropriate since a large proportion of mass-market players are Vietnamese, once as many as 40%, though executives say that’s come down to 15% these days. The ground level main floor has the widest variety of games, including stud poker with minimum bets as low as $5, $10 roulette tables, blackjack at $20, plus Vietnamese card games at $40. (US dollars circulate commonly alongside the local riel.) Baccarat, which accounts for 85% of mass table revenue, has minimum bets of $100 for what executives call “squeeze games,” Naga2’s two towers will have 1,000 guest rooms, 38 VIP salons, up to 300 tables and 500 electronic gaming machines, plus a theater with 2,100 seats and meeting space across 110,000 square meters. The main focus will be on VIP, with perhaps 50 additional mass market tables. Heading Far East NagaCorp hopes to break ground this year on a $350 million gaming resort outside Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East, where a casino cluster is taking shape in the Primorsky Integrated Entertainment Zone. The first phase will cost $50 million including a hotel and casino to open by 2018. Analysts expect subsequent development to depend on the success of phase one. “We believe that our strategy of diversifying our business geographically and expanding into a new casino market will drive revenue growth in the long term,” NagaCorp writes in its annual report. “People ask: ‘Why go outside our Asian expertise?’” NagaCorp Chairman Timothy McNally says. His reply: “We’re not.” NagaCorp >>