Inside Asian Gaming

IAG NOV 2020年11月亞博匯 94 2020 POWER 50 JUN FUJIMOTO REPRESENTATIVE DIRECTOR AND PRESIDENT Universal Entertainment 富士本淳 代表董事及總裁 環球娛樂 32 POWER SCORE 權能指數 : 820 POSITION LAST YEAR 去年排名 : 38 CLAIMS TO FAME 名成事跡 Heads only Japanese company to operate its own integrated resort Deposed Universal’s founder, Kazuo Okada, in 2017 • • • • 執掌唯一一家有自家經營綜合度假村業務日本企業 2017年罷免了環球娛樂的創始人岡田和生 A MAJOR PLAYER IN JAPAN’S pachinko and pachislot market for the past 50 years, Universal Entertainment Corp has dipped its toe into the world of integrated resorts in recent years – first with the launch of Okada Manila and next, presumably, a tilt at an IR license in its home country of Japan. While construction proved to be a far more complicated process than anyone would deem necessary, Okada Manila had finally opened the majority of its 1,000 hotel rooms as of early 2020 and was on the verge of turning profitable when COVID-19 hit. Instead, the expansive IR in Manila’s Entertainment City precinct announced in May that it was laying off around 1,000 staff due to financial pressures brought about by COVID-19 – dulling the excitement that had been brought by a 38.2% increase in GGR in 2019, including a 90.2% rise in VIP rolling chip volume. On a positive note, Universal’s main pachinko arm posted solid results in the three months to 30 June 2020, pushing group wide profit for the period to US$120 million. And Jun Fujimoto, having controversially seized control of the company in 2017 when he and allies including Okada family members ousted Kazuo Okada, appears to be successfully fighting off efforts from the founder to return. He will no doubt be hoping that all such distractions are but a distant memory by the time Japan is finally ready to accept bids to develop its first IRs, with Universal rumored to be one company to have silently expressed an interest. 已經在 日本彈珠機及彈珠機市場叱咤五十年的環球娛樂集團近年來涉足綜合 度假村領域——先是打造了岡田馬尼拉，接下來大概率是在其母國日本尋求 競逐IR牌照。 儘管建築過程比當初所有人預計的都要複雜，但岡田馬尼拉終於在 2020年年初開放了其內1000間酒店客房的大部分，並在年初乍現盈利跡象， 但此時新冠疫情也已悄然而至。 之後這個位於馬尼拉娛樂城內正飛速擴張的綜合度假村，在5月由於新 冠肺炎疫情帶來的財務壓力，裁員了約千名員工。這無疑對沖了2019年其博 彩收入按年增長38.2％所帶來的興奮，其中包括貴賓轉碼數按年增長90.2％。 而好消息則是，環球娛樂的主營業務彈珠機部門公佈，截至2020年6月 30日的三個月內的銷售佳績，推動集團同期整體利潤達到1.2億美元。 當富士本淳和其包括岡田家族成員在內的盟友在2017年成功地從岡田 和生接管了公司的控制權後，其似乎也成功地抵禦了這位創始人重返公司的 努力。 毫無疑問，富士本淳希望等到當日本終於準備好迎接第一批綜合度假村 時，所有之前讓人分心的消息都成為遙遠的以及。而有消息就稱，環球娛樂已 經默默地對此表達了興趣。