Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | Oct 2007 16 the customer who asked in the first place. Compared with the Macau arrangement of several separate VIP Rooms, the western- style VIP Room is usually a single room with many tables. The western VIP room caters to a much broader range of customers, some of whom would be labelled as mass hall play- ers in Macau if one was to only consider their average bet per hand. The western VIP room is also more like a club lounge than a serious gambling room, and the customers are differentiated on the basis of their individual treatment by way of complimentaries in the form of show and event tickets, dinners, etc. The VIP hosts in these rooms usually have to look after all the guests within the room whilst performing everything from reception manning to lim- ousine bookings. They rarely have the time or inclination to sit down and watch individ- ual customers play each hand. Superstition is the way Superstition plays a huge part in Asia’s gaming industry, among not only the play- ers, but also the VIP Room Operators and Junket Agents. One of the delightful introductions to Chinese-style superstitionoften experienced by Gweilo (“foreign devil”) casino operators when they first arrive in Macau or anywhere in Asia is when they are confronted with requests by the VIP Room Operators to put in altars bearing statues of the Warrior God, complete with incense and food offerings, usually in a Feng Shui determined location somewhere near the VIP Room. The provi- sion of a small area for such ethereal devices may have been the last thing on foreign ca- sino operators’ minds when designing their properties. Then there are other requests like puri- fying/blessing of the Junket chips when the Room experiences a losing streak. I suppose the American equivalent is letting the ‘Loser’ (someone who is reputed to suffer from per- manent bad luck) loose on the floor when some lucky player is on a winning streak. I have even heard rumours that those fine Aussie lads over at Galaxy had to do their fair share of kowtowing before altars of the Gods of Money. How delightfully appropri- ate. Only in Macau. Different hosts At the end of the day, the hosts and the way they service the customers are the main differences between Macau and western VIP Rooms. Ideally, the Macau PR hosts provide very individual and attentive service, whereas their western trained counterparts are bet- ter empowered and more productive, but maybe less approachable and less appealing to the basic needs of ego and recognition. The western operators have found that their original ambitions of coming in and winning the customers from the traditional VIP Rooms Operators have foundered, and that the relationship between the Opera- tors, their staff and the customers have been harder to break than expected, despite the new hardware (nicer buildings, rooms, etc). Some have even argued that with the new competition, the ‘rent premium’—i.e. the above average profit that used to be en- joyed by the VIP RoomOperators—have not only been maintained but actually increased with the removal of the fixed overhead ex- pense. This is a dubious argument as any economist will tell you that in a free market, supply will always adjust to match demand to the point where the only profit that can be made is the ‘normal’ level after factoring all risks and opportunity costs. All that is going to happen is that every time a casino operator gives away a ma- jor concession, their competitors will very quickly follow suit. Likewise, if a VIP Room Operator offers a high rate of commission within a nice property, the others will also follow suit, thus wiping out any immediate competitive advantage. The VIP Rooms that will survive in Macau will be the ones that can move quickly, and are adept at playing off one casino operator against another. The ultimate winners from more competition will always be the cus- tomers—in this case, the players. Just and see what happens when Singa- pore’s casinos come online with their 5% VIP gaming tax. Adapting to Macau The western casino operators had to adapt very quickly to the local style when they arrived in Macau. Sands, the first new entrant, is a good example. When yours truly visited the Paiza suites during their first eighteen months of operation, the place was pristine and well maintained,and everything was done just right, but bereft of customers. So did Sands re-educate the Macau mar- ket to the Vegas style of fine gaming, or did VIP Rooms in Focus StarWorld VIP Rooms