Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING DECEMBER 2018 8 A year to remember www.asgam.com I T seems like only yesterday I was sitting down with my fellow panelists to discuss candidates for the 2017 Asian Gaming Power 50. Twelve months on and as we put the finishing touches on the 2018 list, it once again amazes me how much can change in such a short space of time. Aside from the usual property openings and changing financial fortunes of Asia’s growing number of gaming companies and investors, two stories stand out for me from the year just passed. The first, of course, is the downfall of Wynn Resorts co-founder Steve Wynn. I was in London at the time for the annual ICE Totally Gaming trade show and exhibition when an explosive article accusing Wynn of a history of sexual misconduct towards staff was published in the Wall Street Journal . Days later Mr Wynn stood down as Chairman – my lasting memory of that day being our CEO Andrew W Scott and I filing the breaking news at 3am London time from the living room of our London Airbnb. Of course, the Steve Wynn story has taken on a life of its own since then with multiple changes to the Wynn Resorts board, investigations ongoing by the gaming boards of Nevada and Massachusetts and a litany of developments in associated litigations. The second story that stands out in my mind is the intriguing case of Landing International Development. Over the course of just a few short yet dramatic weeks in August, Landing was granted a provisional gaming license by Philippines gaming regulator PAGCOR and proceeded to break ground on its new US$1.5 billion integrated resort in Manila’s Entertainment City. They even flew me over for the event and lined up interviews with key executives for me to conduct that afternoon. But in a dramatic turn of events. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte decided that Landing’s land deal with local partner Nayong Pilipino Foundation wasn’t to his liking and fired the organization’s entire board just hours before groundbreaking. We didn’t know this immediately at the time, but news of the President’s actions did at least explain why Nayong Pilipino Foundation boss Patricia Yvette Ocampo struggled through her speech before bursting into tears immediately afterwards – having only moments earlier been told her fate. Making matters even more bizarre, later that month Landing’s Chairman, Dr Yang Zhihui, went missing – reportedly detained by Cambodian authorities while entering the country and transported back to mainland China in relation to his business links to China’s state-owned Huarong International Financial Holdings Ltd, whose former head is being investigated in a graft probe. Earlier that day, Landing had suspended trading after its stock price plummeted 35% from HK$5.60 to HK$3.71 in less than two hours. It had been only two weeks earlier that I had stood shaking Yang’s hand at the Manila groundbreaking ceremony, yet months later the company is still saying it has been given no official word of his whereabouts. Where else but the gaming industry could you find such real- life drama? I hope you enjoy reading the 2018 Asian Gaming Power 50 as much as I enjoyed my role in creating it – and I can’t wait to see what transpires next year. Ben Blaschke Managing Editor We crave your feedback. Please email your comments to bb@asgam.com. EDITORIAL