Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | September 2011 52 the 237 slots run by Weike (G) Management at another recently- expanded venue also located on Macau peninsula. On Mr Kinsman’s watch, the company was also accepted as an ApprovedManufacturer and Approved Supplier of gamingmachines and gaming equipment by Singapore’s Casino Regulatory Authority. Weike’s senior personnel—including Mr Kinsman—passed all the rigorous technical competence and personal probity checks required by the Authority. The company expanded into new regional markets under his stewardship. Weike now has product in South Korea for the first time. Mr KinsmanstartedhisgamingcareerwithOlympicVideoGaming in Australia, which became Australasia’s No. 2manufacturer under his leadership. The company was eventually sold to IGT Group in 1997 for A$178 million (US$188 million at today’s prices). Mr Kinsman also served as General Manager of Vidco, launchingmultiterminal gaming products. Vidco was then sold to another group and renamed as Star Games in 1991. Between 1994 and 1998, he served twice as Director of AGMMA, the Australian Gaming Machine Manufacturers’ Association (now known as the Gaming Technologies Association). In 2004, Mr Kinsman was headhunted by the online gaming provider Mansion Group as COO, creating ‘The Poker Dome’, a television series featuring poker games between the world’s top players betting their own money. It became one of the top- rated shows on the Fox Network in the United States and beyond, generating a large pool of clients for Mansion. Asian Gaming 50 – 2011 41 (37) Sonny Yeung Chairman Success Universe Group attraction in its own right. The ‘Hollywood Legends’ event will return in October this year, featuring items from Hollywood celebrities and sports heroes. The exhibition is also expected to go on show in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenyang and Harbin. Ponte 16 has showed strong growth this year, delivering a positive EBITDA increase of approximately 201% year-on-year, amounting to HK$206.6 million. The resort is supported by a hotel under the Sofitel brand, and further facilities are on their way. Earlier this year, Success Universe Group recovered possession of a construction site that will be the location of a 400,000 square foot expansion for Ponte 16. The development will include a shopping arcade and additional restaurants. MrYeungandSuccessUniverseGroupare also exploring investments beyond Macau. The group is currently negotiating with the Chinese government to launch a new mobile network lottery platform. Initiated in 2010, the platform was established using mainland Chinese telecommunications operators and will be the basis for a new lottery business. If successful, the venture will allow Success Universe Group access to enormous untapped markets for lottery products within the People’s Republic. Sonny Yeung, the Chairman of Success Universe Group, is capitalising on the substantial growth in Macau’s gaming industry over the course of this year. In addition to building up the existing Ponte 16 site into one of Macau’s must-see entertainment destinations, Mr Yeung broke ground on an extension for Ponte 16 and started a mobile network gaming venture. Ponte 16 is a 50:50 joint venture between Success Universe group and SJM Holdings, which supplies the gaming licence for Ponte 16. Owing to its proximity to the border, the property is particularly popular among mass-market players from the neighbouring mainland Chinese city of Zhuhai. During the ‘Golden Week’ Chinese National Holiday in October last year, the casino hosted Macau’s first ‘Hollywood Legends’ exhibition and auction of film and pop star memorabilia. It—along with the collection of Michael Jackson memorabilia in the property’s MJ Gallery—was part of a marketing campaign to position the resort as not just a gambling establishment, but an 42 (46) Paul Steelman President and CEO Paul Steelman Design Group In addition to Ponte 16, Success Universe Group also operates a cruise business, MV Macau Success, and two travel businesses, Travel Success and Jade Travel. By utilising the sales network of its travel businesses, the group has boosted occupancy rates at Sofitel Macau at Ponte 16 this year. Partnerships with China-focused airlines and tour operators to offer Chinese tourists travel packages are expected to draw even more visitors to Ponte 16 in the future. The masterpieces of Paul Steelman—the go-to designer for modern casinos—can be spotted instantly in Macau. Best known for designing Sands Macao, Mr Steelman also designed the high limit gaming areas of Galaxy Macau, which opened in May this year. Steelman Partners acted as the interior architect for the HK$14.9 billion integrated resort, which features the world’s largest sky wave pool and three world-class hotels: BanyanTreeHotels and Resorts, OkuraHotels & Resorts and the Galaxy Hotel. Steelman Partners has remained very active in Asia during 2011. So far this year, the firm has received four new large-scale entertainment design commissions in China. Steelman Partners has also been appointed as architect and interior and lighting designers for the MGM Grand Ho Tram in Vietnam and the Solaire in Manila. Expected to open in 2013, the MGM Grand Ho Tram will be the first of five large-scale integrated resorts on the Ho Tram Strip in southern Vietnam. Recently, Steelman Partners also landed architectural and designer roles in