Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING JAN 2019 30 the way we run it, what we offer our customers. We’re also number one per position in Pittsburgh. There are four casinos that have recently been allowed in New York State and we won the right to build one of those four. We all opened up about the same time almost a year ago and we are doing far better than any of the others. I think part of that is because we’ve built something that is very attractive and fits into the environment, and also we’ve got very good operations. We’re proud of what we do and we’re very well recognized in the regional casino business. AWS: What do you see as the biggest hurdles Rush Street faces in winning a Japanese IR license? NB: We think the biggest hurdle is to make sure that the area we’re interested in, Tomakomai, raises its hand and says that it wants an integrated resort. We think that the city of Tomakomai clearly does, but that decision will ultimately be made by the prefecture which is Hokkaido and they have an election coming up in April. While we’re reasonably confident and certainly hopeful that they will approve it, that remains one hurdle we have. The other is the final regulations when they come out. We knowmany of the critical rules and we think we can live with that. Last but not least is getting selected, but we think that because of our expertise in real estate – which is 97% of the whole project - and our success in regional development, we have a reasonable chance of being selected. AWS: Finally, can you tell us a little about Rush Street’s efforts in Japan so far in terms of preparing to launch a bid? TD: We decided to refocus our efforts around a regional license in Hokkaido specifically almost two years ago now. We’ve been coming out here – myself or Neil or our consultancy partner in this, Steve Rittvo at The Innovation Group – on a semi-regular basis for the past two years. We also have a team of consultants here in Japan. We just recently opened up our office in Tomakomai and we’re going to be staffing it on at least a part-time basis so that we’re there to answer questions from the local people. We’re also actively looking to hire a project manager for this project on the ground in Japan that would split time between Hokkaido and Tokyo. Rush Street developed the Century City commercial district in Los Angeles. IN FOCUS