Inside Asian Gaming

tanley Ho’s Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau (STDM) is Macau’s biggest business group and employer.STDM subsidiary Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (SJM) is the city’s dominant casino operator - running 14 of the city’s 17 casinos - and according to investment bank CLSA, SJM will retain a 50% share of gambling revenue by 2008. STDM owns major stakes in the city’s top hotels (the Mandarin Oriental and Westin), several other hotels, flag carrier Air Macau, as well as the airport, jetfoil and helicopter services by which over 40% of visitors arrive in Macau. Passengers on the TurboJET jetfoil from Hong Kong to Macau are bombarded with advertisements for the Tiger Slot lounge at STDM’s Macau Tower, offering HK$50 (US$6.4) “Slots Freeplay” in exchange for their used ticket stubs. Freeplay of HK$50 and HK$100 is offered for receipts from other STDM-owned restaurants and cafes. Through its extensive transport, retail, dining and hospitality network, STDM has a wealth of potential promotional weapons in its marketing arsenal. It’s almost enough to make you feel sorry for it’s competitors. STDM director and Stanley Ho’s right-hand man, Ambrose So, responds: “In the world of competition you can have sympathy for your competitors, but you don’t feel sorry for them.”So stresses the advantages of STDM’s extensive network,while other operators are restricted, at the moment at least, to just one premises. STDM is also Macau’s largest landowner. In the previous issue of Inside Asian Gaming, Jorge Oliveira, the Commissioner for Legal Affairs of Macau’s Commission for Gaming, explained that STDM’s huge land bank is what has allowed Melco, the Hong Kong-listed company run by Stanley Ho’s son, Lawrence, to invest so heavily in gaming machines.“If they have an unlimited gaming floor, it makes sense that they try to drive out the competition by reserving a part of that for machines.” Thus,“the only entity that is investing heavily in machines is Melco.” STDM’s other advantage is that it is only subject to local regulations, while the Vegas-based concessionaries, Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts, must also adhere to the tough restrictions of Nevada regulators. So points out that Macau’s regulations are being made more stringent, and says, “I guess Home Court Advantage STDM’s Ambrose So explains why Stanley Ho and Co aren’t exactly sweating the arrival of competition. 17 The Crystal Palace, Hotel Lisboa