Inside Asian Gaming

July 2016 inside asian gaming 31 ratings to calculate the Theoretical Win for each player. Casinos in the West normally rebate a percentage of Theoretical Win back to players which can be used within the property to pay for their room, food, beverage, airfare reimbursement, spa, salon or even retail shopping. Theoretical Win is normally automatically calculated by CMS (Casino Management Software) based upon manual rating inputs. It is the same formula used by casinos around the world which is Average Bet x Number of Hours Played x Number of Decisions per Hour for that game x House Advantage for the game being rated. Western Casinos, depending upon location and gaming tax, may rebate 20% to 35% of Theoretical Win back to the player in points. Each Point has a dollar value so 1,000 points may be equal to $1,000 worth of comp dollars that the player may redeem at the casino. Junket reps or independent reps are either paid a percentage of Theoretical Win or they are paid a percentage of actual rated loss in the casino such as 10% of the player’s rated loss. One should note that Rolling Chip commission programs based upon turnover are actually 100% accurate as opposed to a manual Rating System where there may be some errors based upon visual observations. Therefore it is very important to properly train casino management as well as empower them to make executive level decisions quickly on the casino floor to help avoid customer disputes. An additional point is that most of these new players will either be cash deposit players who bank transfer their funds to the casino in advance or will already be established casino credit customers with a good history or track record in Central Credit. Many casinos set a minimum amount for the cash deposit or approved credit line for a player to be rated on such a program. That minimum amount could be US$25,000 with total deposits or credit up to US$100,000 or more. Players with less money are still welcome to play in the International Room but casino comps may be quite limited based upon management’s discretion. There are many creative ways to attract international junket reps or independent reps as well as to attract players directly. Casino alliances are quite common in other parts of the world where casinos develop reciprocal promotions for certain higher rated players and share the hosting of such players when they visit each other’s properties. This same concept is now being employed by many of the casino cruise ships, but these programs are not really competitive since time and distance, as well as expense, are factors that limit such long distance trips to once or twice a year as opposed to weekly visits to their local or home casino. As the words of a famous song by Bob Dylan go, “The Times They Are A-Changin.” The time for change in Macau is now. Opportunity is out there. It is time to rethink junkets and to consider “…Part Art, Part Science, Part Voodoo.” The bottom line is that international junkets or new international players will not replace lost VIP business in Macau, but they may offer a new cost effective way to mitigate some of the loss. Features