Inside Asian Gaming

March 2009 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 7 Cover Story F rancis Lui, Vice Chairman of Macau casino operator Galaxy Entertainment Group, is not a man to be rushed. He has the height, bearing and sartorial style typical of a member of Europe’s old patrician classes,combinedwithanessentiallyChinese type of calm and courtesy toward guests. The grand pronouncements and swagger traditional in some quarters of the Las Vegas casino scene are not really his style. Yet when Mr Lui discusses the future of Galaxy’s integrated resort on Cotai, which was originally due to open in the third quarter of this year but has now been slowed to an as yet unannounced date next year, he does borrow from the language of the West—the WildWest. “If we feel the market is coming back, we can pull the trigger. Conservatively we can get Galaxy Macau, our resort in Cotai going in less than a year—probably within nine months,” asserts Mr Lui. “We don’t want to open a big property in Cotai while facing the current headwind. We would definitely prefer to have the wind at our back.” Brickbats & bouquets In the past 18 months, Mr Lui and his board have received a few verbal blows aimed by analysts and the media regarding GEG’s approach to its Macau operation. This publication has been among those querying Galaxy’s strategy in the territory, and the execution of that strategy. Was Galaxy aggressive enough in capturing market share in the VIP sector at its flagship StarWorld Hotel & Casino during the boom time of late 2007 and early 2008? Will Galaxy have enough money to finish its Cotai integrated resort? Mr Lui listened patiently and politely to these and other questions when Inside Asian Gaming spoke to him and to Bob Drake, a former Vice President of Finance for Harrah’s Western Division in the United States including Las Vegas and now Galaxy’s Group Chief Financial Officer. The interview took place in the plush surroundings of the Cigar Lounge at StarWorld. The occasion and themoodwere entirely in keeping with Mr Lui’s low-key approach. He could be the only Macau gaming mogul to keep an Octopus card—the electronic On Standby Galaxy will fire the starting gun for its Cotai integrated resort when market conditions are right, says Francis Lui Francis Lui