Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING DECEMBER 2017 66 ASIAN GAMING POWER 50 2 0 1 7 Renowned as one of Macau’s richest men – with a property portfolio in the hundreds – Chan Meng Kam has long had one foot in the city’s gaming business as well via Golden Dragon Group, owner and operator of Casino Golden Dragon. It was the success of Casino Golden Dragon that propelled Chan’s property and business interests but – putting aside rumors he has long held great industry influence behind the scenes – it wasn’t until 2017 that he openly began expanding his gaming interests. In late September, Golden Dragon Group surprised many when it launched a new casino, Royal Dragon, under the license of SJM despite the government’s famed 2008 moratorium supposedly ruling out any such new satellite agreements being approved. Royal Dragon opened with 20 gaming tables moved by SJM from nearby Oceanus. Chan then surprised again in October when it was announced that he had signed a sale and purchase agreement to acquire another downtown hotel and casino, Hotel Lan Kwai Fong, for HK$2 billion. Clearly the former member of Macau’s Legislative Assembly has big plans within the industry. A member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and hugely influential figure among Macau’s Fujian community, Chan served three terms as a Macau lawmaker between 2005 and 2017 before announcing he was stepping down from official government duties ahead of this year’s election. Jaydev Mody CHAIRMAN Delta Corp POWER 593 LAST 46 SCORE YEAR CLAIMS TO FAME On verge of owning small casinos in the only three Indian states to allow them Perfectly positioned should Indian casino industry be given the green light 46 Compared to the estimated US$150 billion a year Indians spend with illegal bookmakers on the national sport of cricket alone, the less than US$100 million raked in by the country’s handful of legal casinos is a drop in the ocean. But that hasn’t stopped Delta Corp from finding an increasingly firm foothold in India’s complex casino market. Originally a real estate firm, Delta Corp made its first foray into casino gaming in 2008 with the launch of casino ship Deltin Jakq and has since grown to become the dominant player, operating three offshore casinos plus the land-based Deltin Suites Casino Hotel at Nerul, all in Goa, as well as Casino Deltin Denzong in Sikkim. Guided by the steady hand of Chairman Jadev Mody, the company also ventured into the online space in late 2016 with the acquisition of India’s biggest online poker site, Adda52.com. More recently, in October 2017, Delta Corp announced that it had signed an MOU to operate a casino inside the Marriot Hotel in Kathmandu, Nepal, pending government approval. The company’s initiative saw it book a 21.3% revenue increase to US$71.33 million for the year ended 30 June 2017, with profits up 94.7% to US$11.4 million. In November, Delta Corp launched the 176 room The Deltin, located in Daman, with casino operations expected to begin in early 2018. Once fully up and running, The Deltin will give Delta Corp a presence in the two Indian states (Goa and Sikkim) and one Union Territory (Daman and Diu) that allow casino gaming.