Inside Asian Gaming

IAG FEB 2021年2月 亞博匯 72 HardRock is easilyunderestimated in Japan, as it’s not a brand well known for gaming in Asia or as a Las Vegas icon. 硬石在日本很容易被低估，因為其在亞洲 既非知名的博彩品牌，也不是拉斯維加斯 的標誌性品牌。 JAPAN in Cotai. The Grand Waldo property was ultimately sold to Galaxy and converted into Broadway, which became part of the greater Galaxy Macau-Broadway offering. Guangdong Group is a Macau-based VIP gaming promoter with real estate interests in Hong Kong. ITC Properties is a Hong Kong-listed company with real estate investments including Macau’s One Oasis residential development, and Success Universe operates the Ponte 16 and Sofitel hotel casino property in Macau’s inner harbor region. Oshidori and Mohegan Gaming and Entertainment (MGE) announced their partnership in the last week of January. MGE is best known for its Mohegan Sun tribal casino in Connecticut, one of the largest tribal casinos in the country. Its stage-one US$1 billion Inspire resort, set to open in Incheon, South Korea, has been delayed several times, but CEO Mario Kontomerkos has repeatedly reaffirmed his company’s commitment to Korea, and the total investment for Inspire Incheon is said to be US$5 billion over multiple stages. Mohegan last year won the bid for a casino at the former Athens international airport, to be called Inspire Athens. Oshidori was formerly unheard of in the Asian IR industry, but burst onto the scene with the June 2020 high-profile hiring of Alex Yemenidjian as Chairman and CEO of subsidiary Oshidori International Development Ltd, tasked with leading Oshidori’s Nagasaki bid. Yemenidjian’s pedigree is beyond question; some describe him as the long-time right- hand man of the legendary casino billionaire Kirk Kerkorian – just about as close as you can get to Las Vegas royalty. Kerkorian was majority shareholder of MGM Studios and MGM Resorts and was a major player in the Las Vegas gaming industry for decades. Yemenidjian, who has a finance background, is a former co-owner of Tropicana in Las Vegas and a