Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING JUNE 2018 20 “The Connecticut facility is the highest-grossing facility in the Western hemisphere. We don’t do the highest volume of Asian business, but we have the largest database of Asian business in the US, or we believe we have; it’s sort of a hard number to pin down.” – Mario Kontomerkos, Mohegan Sun COVER STORY business in the US, or we believe we have; it’s sort of a hard number to pin down. The number of Asian games that we offer is probably, if not the highest in the US, close to the highest. We are very prolific in that area, so we have a dedicated area in Connecticut called Sunrise Square which is exclusively for Asian gaming and that is something we are replicating in other properties. So, yes, I think we have a lot of experience in this area. MC: How much is the experience of Paradise City [a joint venture between South Korea’s top foreigner-only casino operator Paradise Group and Japanese gaming machine manufacturer Sega Sammy that opened in April last year at a different end of the Incheon airport complex] informing your project? MK: Look, we believe very strongly in the concept of critical mass. We believe very strongly that one plus one is three. We’ve seen this example over and over in Asia, very successfully, and I’ve seen it in the United States being very successful as well. So we want to see Paradise succeed and we think that our development will be a different sort of experience but will be complementary. I think it will benefit both. The new Paradise product is very nice, very well appointed. MC: What have you learned from them? MK: What we are doing, like I said, is going to be different and complementary. We are going to be focused on different things. If you look at what they’ve done, they’ve done a nice job of creating this concept of an art theme. Ours will be more focused on entertainment, so I think we’ll be complementary and we will be very good for the whole Incheon region. Our product is going to be a platform for South Korean and Western from a musical perspective, from a concert perspective, from F&B and retail perspectives. It’s really going to be a melding of both, which I think will be very successful. MC: We’re talking in Tokyo at the Japan Gaming Congress, where Mohegan Sun is a sponsor and you’re making a presentation. Beyond that, what’s Mohegan Sun’s current level of participation and interest in Japan? MK: If we think of the fact that we are investing US$5 billion over the next 20 years at Incheon, at probably the busiest transit hub in all of Northern Asia, we believe that we are uniquely positioned to be able to benefit and connect both markets. So really we will be operating the largest integrated resort in Northern Asia when Inspire opens and we’ll be able to leverage that connection to the airport. The fact that we will have a database of millions of millions of foreigners who are mobile, affluent and willing to travel, can certainly be beneficial for the Japan IR process. MC: What will you bring to the table in Northern Asia? MK: You know, there’s a lot of benefits that we’ll bring. I think one thing is the fact that we are investing so much in this extremely high Mohegan Gaming and Entertainment CEO Mario Kontomerkos