Inside Asian Gaming

November 2015 inside asian gaming 15 NEW MACAU, NEW PLAN eSun’s original plan was firmly rooted in the old Macau. As the new Macau burst out under gaming liberalization Cotai found a new purpose and eSun wanted to be part of it. Easing of travel restrictions after the 2003 SARS outbreak under the Individual Visitor Scheme allowed millions more mainland Chinese to visit Macau more easily, then the opening of Sands Macao in 2004 showed that gaming liberalization had legs. That drove eSun back to the drawing board to revise its plan for the Cotai site, adding hotel, retail and casino components to the film and television facilities. Macau authorities approved the revised plan in 2005, and this expanded version was slated to open in 2009. eSun called the new resort Macau Studio City, “where Cotai begins,” a nod to its location beside the Lotus Bridge border crossing from Hengqin Island. This was just down the block from the then putative site of Venetian Macao, on what Sheldon Adelson envisioned as the Cotai Strip, though it would take the better part of a decade for the corridor to even remotely resemble the bright lights of the Las Vegas version. Macau’s light rail system, then expected to begin running around the time of the 2009 opening was expected to stop in front of Studio City. eSun began looking for partners to bring star power to the plan. Shanghai Tang founder and Lai Sun board member David Tang agreed to create a hotel based on his retro Chinese fashion label’s signature styles. Ritz Carlton, Starwood’s W brand and Marriott signed on to provide the rest of a planned 2,000 hotel rooms. Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Enterprises agreed to create its first overseas Playboy Mansion, a combination casino, lounge and nightclub, aiming to recapture the magic of its Playboy Casino in London that was reputed to be the world’s most profitable gaming establishment during the 1970s. For the retail component, shopping mall developer Taubman paid US$55 million to own 25% of the envisioned 86,000 square meter (920,000 square foot) mall and manage it. KEEPING CONTROL For the gaming component, eSun didn’t want to make a deal directly with a casino concessionaire, according to project insiders, fearing that would mean losing control of the project. Instead, eSun sold 40% of Macau Studio City, including the right to operate the casino, for US$200 million to New Cotai, majority Cover Story Peter Lam David Tang