Inside Asian Gaming

IAG MAR 2020年3月 亞博匯 92 IN FOCUS “When they askedme to set up and run the Asia office, I was concerned. There was a stigma about Asia that business wasn’t straight up and down,” he continues. “But I’ve found that if you are straight-forward, honest and let people know what’s going on, then business is no different than anywhere else in the world. “It is all based on integrity and your ability to set course for where you want to go, as long as you stick to your guns. It was easier than I initially expected.” Macau has come far since those early days. From the 800 machines held by SJM towards the end of its monopoly in 2001, today Macau’s six concessionaires operate a hefty 17,300 machines between them, raking in annual GGR of around MOP$15 billion (US$1.86 billion). “I look back to the opening of Sands Macao in 2004, which was the first American-run casino in Macau. While the opening itself was pretty special, I think the visitation to that casino really changed Macau,” Jolly says. “I don’t think anyone expected the casino to do as much as it did. Prior to the Sands Macao opening was the launch of Waldo across the road, and the turnover through that place was extraordinary – no one in the world had heard of numbers like it. That was really the beginning of Macau becoming the Chinese-dominated gambling destination.” Jolly has played a leading role in the evolution of the slot machine business in Asia, not only by growing the market, but by bringing another major player into the region by joining Scientific Games. He has also helped educate the growing ASEAN gaming markets, with nations like Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos becoming increasingly sophisticated. “They’re looking for technology, systems and advances in the systems that will give them a competitive edge,” Jolly observes. “That really didn’t 門金沙在2004年的開幕。開幕本身已經非常特別。我認為該娛樂 場的訪客數量真的改變了澳門。」 「我想沒有人會預料到這間賭場可以有如此成就，而在澳門 金沙開幕以前，與它隔一條馬路的華都亦已開幕。那裏的投注率 實在是非比尋常，全世界沒有人有聽過這樣的數字，那就是澳門 真正成為以中國人為主的博彩目的地的開端。」 Jolly在亞洲角子機業務的褪變中扮演了一個領導角色，他不 只令到市場得以壯大，同時亦通過加入Scientific Games來把另 一個主要參與者帶進這個區域。他亦幫助教育了多個正在擴張的 東盟市場，讓柬埔寨、越南及老撾等變得愈加成熟。 Jolly觀察到：「他們正在尋找技術、系統，以及這些系統中可 以讓他們更有競爭力的先進之處。」 「這些在10到15年前都不存在，而所有亞洲的市場都走在同 一條路上，就是變得更加專業和走向一個更正面的方向。」 那麼Jolly又認為他對於行業的最大貢獻是甚麼呢？ 「我希望自己於這些年內在很多人開展他們事業的過程中， 都扮演了一個重要的角色。」 他解釋：「以我在美國的角色為例，我把6位學員帶到美國市 場當中，而我亦相信他們都依然在博彩業內，並且正出任不錯的 職位。」 「這個行業讓人很享受身處其中，而我亦相信，為那些我 工作過的公司而言，我是一個有價值的員工。以我為Scientific Games在亞洲所做的事，我希望可以對於公司未來的動向有些影 響力。」 「我們對於未來都已經有計劃，要繼續擴張在亞洲的業務以 及日本市場，我很確定自己在該方面可以幫到手。」