Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING FEBRUARY 2018 18 COVER STORY US$500 to US$600 million. It has doubled because of smarter operators, people working together and competition, but also the buildings. The buildings are designed to be more profitable. There are lots of different ways to design a casino to be more profitable and in fact we have around 100 different rules to do that. We count steps in buildings, we use psychology in buildings to create empowerment in casinos and make it feel like you can win, to create “wow” only in the lobby so you’re not distracted from what you’re doing and even to create some kind of period of rest because no one can go on forever. We do all sorts of things like that. So, our buildings are planned around metrics and that’s in the planning and the aesthetics, the layout of them, the lighting of them but, more importantly, they are planned around the cost. These are the most expensive private-funded buildings in the world and they have to make a profit. Those who spend too much going in the door without the proper business plan have some difficulties. Stan Fulton [developer of “Wheel of Gold”, predecessor to the “Wheel of Fortune” slot machine, who died in January at age 86] told me as I was growing up, “Paul you have to realise that these casinos make their money 25 cents at a time.” You’ve got to keep that in the back of your mind whenever you’re designing a casino because this is not a series of efforts that have to do with extreme high rollers losing US$21 million. I’ve tried to always keep that in my mind, to try and do a value proposition rather than to try and lead the market. Naga2 is a value proposition. The metrics on that building are remarkable – the amount of people per square meter, the cost per gaming position. If you were ever to compare those things you would be shocked. Some of the Macau casinos have 10 times the cost in a metric format than Naga2 does. Your best customers are your residences, the people that are staying in the hotel, so the whole idea is to get as many people in residence as possible and the best way to do that is to plan an efficient hotel. Naga2 has to be one of the most efficient gaming hotels in the whole world. The Steelman-designed Solaire Resort & Casino in Manila is proving to be hugely profitable