Inside Asian Gaming

NOVEMBER 2018 INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 27 In Asia, in addition to the Golden Reel and Macau eStadium at Studio City, City of Dreams Manila just opened its new virtual reality (VR) game zone covering over 2,700-square meters on the upper ground floor of the resort, with close to 600-seat capacity. Additionally, South Korea’s Paradise City has recently completed the second stage of new non-gaming facilities including a high-end shopping mall, boutique hotel, film studio, family entertainment compound and art gallery. While some of the first diversified gaming experiences relied on relatively “standard” amenities such as traditional food and beverage outlets and box-style meeting space, gaming properties can no longer rely on cookie-cutter non-gaming facilities. Industry professionals anticipate a wider variety of amenities to appear to seduce new customers and to keep older ones. Now, both destination and regional gaming facilities are expanding their non-gaming offering to include unique amenities such as Topgolf, social bowling experiences and indoor waterparks among others. Properties considering any non- gaming expansion must now focus their development on differentiated offerings more than ever. THE NON-GAMING GOLD STANDARD VS THE REST: INSIGHTS THROUGH JUXTAPOSITION The chart over the page illustrates a fact that is nothing new in the gaming world – Las Vegas is the gold standard when COLUMNISTS it comes to non-gaming amenities and, perhaps, the global standard for the entertainment industry in general. Non- gaming revenue as a percentage of total Strip revenue reached an all-time high in 2017 at 66%. This comes as Strip properties continue to jockey for a larger share of the seemingly ever-increasing flow of visitors to the destination – visitors who are seeking a one-of-a-kind experience that often involves minimal time spent on the gaming floor, if any. While some of the first diversified gaming experiences relied on relatively “standard” amenities such as traditional food and beverage outlets and box-style meeting space, gaming properties can no longer rely on cookie-cutter non-gaming facilities. Galaxy Macau’s Grand Pool Deck is one of the most popular non-gaming facilities in the city.