Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JUN 2020年6月 亞博匯 35 封面故事 costs and shifting credit risk to VIP room operators. “That was a brilliant hedge, a brilliant move,” regulatory specialist and Senior Vice President, Investigations at Spectrum Gaming, Paul Bromberg says. “It led to the prolonged success of STDM. In their heyday, they were the most profitable casinos in the world.” STDM also let Ho’s friends run satellite casinos at their own premises. Despite his legendary business sense, Ho missed the possibilities of gaming liberalization. “It remains a mystery to me why he did not take the opportunity, between March 2002 and 18 May 2004, when Sands [Macao] opened, to get on the front foot and invest much more in the casino business than he did,” Newpage Consulting principal David Green, a former Australian gaming regulator and consultant to Macau’s government, says. “Perhaps he just lacked belief.” KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS In Ho’s defense, a major change spurring Macau’s explosive growth, the Individual Visit Scheme enabling mainland Chinese to visit without joining tour groups, wasn’t enacted until October 2003 in response to the SARS outbreak. More fundamentally, though, Ho’s monopoly had decayed to the point where gaming table markings were drawn on felt worn blank and player refreshments were available for purchase at dirty drinks counters. Ho himself scoffed at new rivals planning to invest hundreds of millions of dollars. “We know our customers,” he reassured anyone who suggested the neophytes weren’t crazy. Witnesses say Ho’s jaw dropped when he saw Sands Macao’s casino floor on its May 2004 opening night. At an emergency staff meeting, he appealed to Chinese pride, urging executives not to let foreigners outdo them. Announced just after the Sands opening, Grand Lisboa, adjacent to the original Lisboa, opened in February 2007, though hotel rooms occupying the upper 40-something floors of Macau’s tallest building 何超瓊減持了美高梅中國的股份及美高梅未能為其大西洋城的 Borgata找到買家之後，對前者的指控有所軟化。何鴻燊於1990年 獲頒贈大英帝國勛章，此外亦獲得香港及澳門的最高榮譽勛章。 撇開誠信問題不談，貴賓廳代表著一項重大的業務進步。澳 娛在收到預付款、租金、有保證的泥碼銷售及一定比例的收入的 同時減少了營運及管理的成本，並且將信用風險轉嫁給貴賓廳 營運商。博彩監管專家、Spectrum Gaming研究部門高級副總裁 Paul Bromberg表示：「這是一個絕妙的對沖，是一項聰明的舉動。 此舉帶動了澳娛的長期成功。在其鼎盛時期，那裡是全球最賺錢 的賭場。」澳娛還同時允許何鴻燊的朋友在其旗下經營衛星賭場。 儘管有著傳奇般的商業頭腦，何鴻燊卻錯過了賭權開放的 機會。「他為何沒有在2002年3月到2004年5月18日即金沙澳門開 業之際率先在博彩業務上加大投入以搶佔先機，至今仍是未解之 謎。」曾在澳洲博彩監管部門任職及曾任澳門政府顧問的咨詢公 司Newpage Consulting創辦人David Green表示。「也許他只是沒 有十足把握。」 By 1997, it was hard to spend a dollar or pataca in Macau without Ho getting a piece of it. 1997年之前，澳門人花出的每一筆錢都至少有 一部分被何鴻燊收入囊中。