Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | September 2011 42 Asian Gaming 50 – 2011 SJM project on Cotai. In marketing terms, SJM simply cannot afford to stay away from Macau’s new mass-market gaming hub. The SJM business model post-liberalisation has been to have good market coverage all over the territory. So if you lose a customer out of one door in one casino, there’s always a chance that you will catch him or her in the SJM net a little further down the street. And as the infrastructure builds up on the Chinese side of the Lotus Bridge Gate into Macau—the border crossing serving Cotai—then the number of visitors using Cotai as their first and perhaps only stop is likely to increase dramatically. Mr McFadden has the benefit of insights into how LVS and the other Western operators might react to any SJM push into the Cotai market. Between November 2004 and November 2006, he was Chief Operating Officer for Las Vegas Sands’ Macau unit, Venetian Macau Ltd. In that role he oversaw the ramping up of business at the newly-opened Sands Macao—the territory’s first mass-market casino. Thanks to supportive policies from China’s central government; the pent up enthusiasm of mainland China’s gamblers; and the guidance of Mr McFadden, the US$265 million Sands Macao broke even within a year of its May 2004 opening. He was also at the helm of the Macau operation for most of The Venetian Macao’s construction. Before that he was Chief Executive Officer of Casinos Austria International Ltd, from June 2000 to 2004. “Dr Ho’s vision has been to show that Chinese companies can compete with multinationals at the highest level,” says Mr McFadden. It seems a patriotic Irishman could help Dr Ho realise that dream in retirement. 26 (26) David Punter General Manager Asia Pacific Aristocrat Technologies If Aristocrat’s David Punter had a dollar for every time he’s been asked whether the company can maintain its leading market share in slot sales for Macau, he would have a jackpot-sized pay day of his own. Such a theoretical question can only produce a theoretical answer. All that matters in the end is what the sales figures and company balance sheets say. On that basis, and on recent performance, the answer is an emphatic ‘Yes’. Aristocrat was again the leading slot supplier on the floor for the opening of Galaxy Macau in May. It has also recently produced market innovations such as the tailor-made ‘Tree of Prosperity’ link at Wynn Macau in cooperation with the casino management. The slot installation—based on the consistently successful 50 Dragons platform—is located at the casino entrance nearest to Wynn’s spectacular illuminated ‘Tree of Prosperity’ exhibit—a case of technology imitating art imitating life. The tree display is extremely popular withChinese tourists because of its cultural symbolism and its dazzling display. It provides a powerful marketing tool for Aristocrat’s gaming product a short walk away. The combination of consistently good game mathematics, market-appropriate innovation and willingness to work closely with operators, have all contributed to Aristocrat’s continuing dominance in Macau and strong showing in other key markets such as Singapore. Aristocrat’s Viridian WideScreen (WS) cabinet was launched in Asia recently with brand new games and concepts featured on its 22-inch display, including two games with strong Asian-themes—Dragon Emperor, and the soon to be released 5 Dragons Legends. Dragon Emperor utilises the new Aristocrat game concept Remix™. The Remix free games feature—when triggered—gives the player a random shuffling of reels or symbols, so he or she has an increased opportunity for different combinations and four-of-a-kind and five-of-a-kind pay outs, adding a new level of excitement in game play. According to Mr Punter, “5 Dragons Legends is the culmination of perpetual engagement with the Asian gaming market, and brand extension of one of Asia’s most successful standalone gaming products. The 5 Dragons Legends package will offer Asian players more volatility, which we know they love so much and operators tell us they are constantly looking for in our gaming products.”In addition Mr Punter says that when players trigger the free games in 5 Dragons Deluxe, they will have the opportunity to select two new free game feature options. The choices are either six free games with up to a x40 multiplier, or a Mystery Choice, which randomly picks both free games and multiplier.“We are extremely confident that 5 Dragons Legends will be our next success story in the Asian gaming market,” states Mr Punter. David Punter has played an important role both in ensuring that Aristocrat listens to its regional customers and responds accordingly and in helping to ‘talent spot’ Aristocrat product designed in othermarkets that will work well in Asian markets. He’s also been at the forefront of the company’s thinking on making most effective use of the smartphone apps and social networking technology revolution in Asia. Mr Punter says a core strength of Aristocrat is getting its people to understand as much as they can about games, how they work and how to adapt products for players and markets—what he describes as an “holistic view” of the industry. Mr Punter has continued that tradition in developing his own team, providing a platform for continued success in Asia.