Inside Asian Gaming

40 thing to say about the design of casino build- ings. Buildings are the first thing that a po- tential punter sees.Buildings set the expecta- tions, and create the promise of the things to come… or not. We have both in Macau. The Golden Sands with its beacon beckoning to weary travellers coming in on the turbojets, singing like a siren – come, come, rest your tired feet and park your wallets… to the other extreme, the Jai Lai which is totally hid- den behind the New Yaohan and beckons to no-one. On this note, I tried to resist but just can- not help myself – StarWorld by the Galaxy group reminds me of that time I tried to create something meaningful with my kids’ Lego set. I have yet to figure out the “Look at me!!” or “come inside and play” part of that design. Does anyone care to comment? And if you have time, by all means please go and look at their new building in Cotai, the one with a great big golden trophy-like plaque at its main entrance. And if you Galaxy people have any insights, please do share with us. The new Rio is quite lovely on the inside, I must say.Yet in keeping in line with our topic, the name conjures up images of a Brazilian “Carnivale” atmosphere, samba dancers in sequins (like the one GM had), and so forth. I looked hard but could not find anything to do with Rio inside. Galaxy claims the Rio has an Italian theme, but it’s more just another nice example of modern HK-style architec- ture, which the Galaxy group is starting to show a definite tendency towards. Likewise that other little newcomer, Ma- cau Diamond at Holiday Inn. They have the Moulin rouge windmill and the French bou- doir style interior, which are quite nice, but perhaps there should be more consistency throughout, a whole package from promise through to product delivery, a customer ex- perience that lives up to the initial promise – you know a complete theme, from architec- ture through interior design to the customer service experience. Perhaps this highlights that although Macau is boasting that it is the next Vegas, the emphasis right now is on speed, speed and speed of construction, rather than look- ing at the product as a whole in terms of marketing. Someone once asked why Macau just doesn’t skip the theming stage and go straight to what is current in Vegas right now – opu- lence and integrated resorts aimed at the con- vention market. The reason it doesn’t is because of what we marketing people call a product lifecycle. Perhaps Macau is still in the early stages of a product cycle. We have some attempts at total product theming: GM with its Greek soldiers wandering around muttering in Rus- sian and Grand Emperor with its Beefeaters doing the changing of the guard while mut- tering in Russian. We also have no theming: Rio and Sands. The clue is probably out there in the mar- ket place.We are looking at an 80%mainland Chinese clientele, and given their newly dis- covered penchant for theme parks (all you have to do is visit HK Disneyland and see grown men in suits on the Flying Dumbo ride, and you will understand what I mean), the theming stage may be a critical part of the evolution of the marketplace in Macau. Once people are tired of theming, then the next stage could be…well, it could whatever evolves and works in Macau. Whatever it is,I promise you this:the prod- uct life-cycle will be much shorter in Macau than anywhere else. We have seen daily ex- amples of this,with fads coming and going in the blink of an eye. Look at cell-phones. Peo- ple change them like they do their clothes. What this means is that the marketing people have to have their fingers on the pulse to try and predict the next phase. (Any amusing anecdotes or observations of the marketing variety, please feel free to forward to ka.chng@gmail.com ) Galaxy’s StarWorld was designed by Rocco Design, the architects behind Hong Kong’s tallest building, the elegant 2 IFC 41 as Vegas came into existence in 1905 as a Nevada railroad stopover in the Mojave Desert on the line between Salt Lake City and the rapidly growing city of Los Angeles. The population of Las Vegas then was only several thousand, most of who worked in the railway repair yards. Its prospects took a turn for the better with the federal govern- ment’s decision in 1930 to build the Hoover Dam some 30 miles south of Las Vegas. This brought with it some 5000 construction workers and kick-started a tourist industry attracted by what then was one of the biggest civil engineering projects in the world. Gambling was legalised in Nevada in 1931, although it had flourished for some time illegally.Las Vegas,whose population had grown to about 7,000 (com- pared with 200,000 in Macau during this time), took on the character- istics of a desert boom town with its attendant industries of drinking, gambling and prostitution. The dam was completed in 1935 and after the construction work- ers disappeared, Las Vegas sought to fill the economic hole their ab- sence created through the promotion of gambling. The town bene- fited to some extent from Nevada’s liberal divorce and marriage laws, although the primary beneficiary was Reno. Indeed it was not until the early 1950s that Las Vegas overtook Reno in terms of gambling revenue. Gambling in downtown Las Vegas took place mainly in un- exceptional gambling halls, some with sawdust on the floor. Tourists spent a few dollars and moved on as there were no luxury hotels. How “the Strip” Started Macau is being transformed into “Asia’s Las Vegas” – an appellation trademarked by one of the companies spearheading that transformation, Las Vegas Sands Corp. CLSA’s Aaron Fischer and Nick Cashmore look at the evolution of Las Vegas to see how Macau could develop cluster of low-rise buildings in expansive surroundings. The aim was to be self-sufficient, and to provide a vacation centered on gambling, together with entertainment in an attractive, safe, and exotic deluxe resort-type environment. It was the arrival in the early 1940s of the “casino resort” on what was to be known as“the Strip”that was to lay the foundation for the fu- ture prosperity of Las Vegas.The casino resort differed from the down- town gambling joint in that it typically comprised a central building which housed a casino, restaurants, and a theatre, surrounded by a Early Days The first of these was the El Rancho, which was built in 1941 by the owner of a chain of motels in California. It was built several miles out of town just outside the city limits, thus benefiting from cheaper land and avoiding city taxes.This was to become the“Strip”.The name start- ed as an ironic comparison of the barren strip of desert roadway which it then was, to the more famous “Hollywood Strip.” This was followed in 1942 by the cowboy-themed Last Frontier Vil- lage, which was built by the owner of a chain of movie theatres and restaurants in Oklahoma and Texas. These resorts were largely aimed at tourists from Los Angeles and southern California, still the largest category of visitors to Las Vegas. These resorts were successful and flourished and encouraged others. The appeal of the casino resort during this period was that casino gambling was illegal throughout the rest of the US. The country was in the throes of an extensive anti-crime movement.Politicians and law enforcement authorities were intent on ridding the cities of organ- ised crime which continued on until the mid-1950s. With the end of prohibition in 1933, a number of former bootleggers moved into il- legal gambling. As a result nearly all urban gambling was perceived as being organized by the mob. In the 1930s and early 1940s individual states pursued different policies towards gambling. It was variously banned outright, tolerated in restricted forms, or flourished illegally. Nevada was the only state which permitted practically all forms of L The Strip starts El Rancho