Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming December 2016 8 Cover Story Heritage. Founded by Tim Shepherd and Mike Bolsover in 2003, Silver Heritage is the only foreign company to be granted a gaming license in Nepal and has spent the past two years running a number of mini-casinos in one-star hotels along the Nepal-India border. But its watershed moment will be the opening of Tiger Palace Resort in Bhairahawa in early 2017 – Nepal’s first five-star resort and one of two Silver Heritage has planned for the region targeted directly at players from India. “There are 430 million Indians within a day’s drive of Tiger, so it’s about developing a product for them closer to home,” explains Shepherd. “The Nepal-India border is 1,000km long and although we don’t have a monopoly, we happen to be the first by many years on that border. “We see India as the next big thing. Gaming is legal in Goa and also in Sikkam but the facilities are modest. A number of states have discussed legalizing gaming. The fact is that Indians culturally and generally do like gaming. “So I do believe there is plenty of opportunity along that border. And the fact is that border casinos are a thing. Macau technically is a border casino town. It is on the border of an enormous country but it is still a border town. “We are the first operators on that border but we won’t be the last. I think we will be very successful and when we do, more people will see that and come in very quickly.” Shepherd points out, though, that Silver Heritage has worked closely with the Nepalese government to get to where it is today. Its promised US$100 million investment makes the company the largest foreign investor in tourism Nepal has ever had, while it will also become the country’s largest single employer of locals outside of the government itself. Of course, winning government approval isn’t always so easy. Long before NagaWorld launched its land-based operation in Phnom Penh, its predecessor, Naga Casino Resorts, began life in 1995 as a floating cruise ship on the Mekong River. Its original “There are 430 million Indians within a day’s drive of Tiger, so it’s about developing a product for them closer to home.” – Tim Shepherd purpose was simply to help owner Ariston raise the funds to build a proposed US$1.3 billion entertainment hub along the Sihanoukville coastline. That deal, signed in the same year Naga Casino set sail, included a 20-year monopoly to operate casinos nationwide and an eight year tax exemption, but also caused tremendous division within the government which ultimately culled progress. Fortunately, Ariston’s floating casino was performing so well that moving to solid land was a no-brainer – the government throwing in exclusivity for NagaWorld to operate within a 200km radius until 2035 to soften the Sihanoukville blow. “When this company commenced operations, there was a great deal of concern about the political stability of the country as well as a lot of economic uncertainty,” says McNally of NagaWorld’s deal. “So it is important to assess very carefully the license that you receive – can you protect it? How long will the license be? How many tables and machines can you have? The facilities you can offer, the types of games you can operate – those things are very much part of the front end assessment. “You also have to look at the existing market size and valuation and then I think you have to look at the reach and what kind of dynamics are coming into the country in terms of infrastructure – An artist's impression of Tiger Palace Resort in Nepal