Inside Asian Gaming

19 20 selves in an increasingly busy mass market. A current fad is for themed properties. Worth its Weight The Grand Emperor Hotel and its accompa- nying casino on the Macau peninsula went for a look of imperial opulence. It chose to wow visitors by literally paving the lobby with gold – 78 one-kilo bars of it, to be pre- cise. Emperor Entertainment Group has a strong entertainment brand in Asia, with film star Jackie Chan – a minority shareholder in the project – appearing at the opening of the property in January last year, In Macau, even the shopping complexes are turning into theme parks. David Chow’s Fisherman’s Wharf retail and restaurant development is a pastiche of architectural styles from around the world, reminiscent of a section of Disney’s Epcot Center in Florida. LVS’ Venetian Macau resort will soon add Italy to the list of places you can visit on a trip to Macau. Although initial visitor numbers at Fish- erman’s Wharf have been disappointing, the owners hope to revive its fortunes with the new themed casino in the grounds operating under SJM’s licence. The new casino’s exterior is loosely based on a temple from ancient Babylon – another civilisation noted in The Bible for its love of excess. In reality, the frontage looks more like an Art Deco cinema theatre parachuted on to the banks of the Pearl River Delta than a temple on the banks of the River Tigris. Other local operators are busy building a corporate identity to pull in visitors, and it seems clear that when it comes to gaming, size and branding does matter. Hong Kong- listed Galaxy Entertainment Group, headed by Hong Kong construction tycoon Lui Che Woo, started 2006 with two casinos and a 9% revenue share. By the end of the fourth quarter, it had five casinos operating and fin- ished the year with a 19% share. The Galaxy properties have taken advantage of the op- portunities for cross-promotion and group purchasing, as well as the novelty factor that new openings present. The one recognisable casino brand that did develop during the monopoly era was Stanley Ho’s Casino Lisboa. The birdcage- shaped Lisboa was built in the late 1960s, and as Stanley Ho’s right-hand man Ambrose So pointed out in an earlier interview with Inside Asian Gaming , “the ceilings are low and it’s very cramped.” Still, the Lisboa has achieved iconic status, and SJM is cashing in on that with the adjoining Grand Lisboa, set to open this month. SJM also has the benefit of size, providing licences for 17 of the 24 ca- sinos currently operating in Macau. Sign of Maturity Gaming industry consultant Roger Egan says: “It’s a sign of the maturing of the Macau casi- no market that branding and themed venues are playing an increasing role. It’s a way of of- fering niche products to spread the appeal of Macau to non-gamblers as well as gamblers. The thinking is that you can drive up room occupancy rates, length of stay and general revenues if you can turn Macau into a gener- al sightseeing and entertainment resort rath- er than just a gambling town. With this new business model, gambling could become the icing on the cake, rather than making up the whole cake.” The quest for branding in Macau can also be seen in the frantic rush of the different casino operators to sign up big name hotel chains to their new developments. But what of Macau’s traditional casinos and their VIP operations,who lack an obvious brand identity,brand allies,or linkage to a big organisation? How many of the analysts cur- rently writing about Macau’s gaming indus- try have heard of the King Seiner Palace casi- no? Yet King Seiner is part-owned by Success Universe Group, one of the big three players in the Macau VIP market. Given the sheer number of potential customers available in mainland China, the march of Macau’s mass market looks unstop- pable. Wynn Macau managed to corner a 16% share of the territory’s gaming revenues within three months of opening. The Las Vegas experience has been that in the world of casino operations, the big get richer and the small get poorer. Unless Ma- cau’s small operators are able to hold on to the VIP trade and its big margins,the territory may end up imitating Vegas yet again. Grand Emperor Hotel