Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | September 2009 4 Editorial Publisher Kareem Jalal Director João Costeira Varela Editor Michael Grimes Operations Manager José Abecasis Contributors Desmond Lam, Steve Karoul I. Nelson Rose, Richard Marcus Shenée Tuck, James J. Hodl Andrew MacDonald William R. Eadington Graphic Designer Brenda Chao Photography Ike Inside Asian Gaming is published by Must Read Publications Ltd Suite 1907, AIA Tower, 215A-301 Av. Comercial de Macau - Macau Tel: (853) 6646 0795 For subscription enquiries, please email subs@asgam.com For advertising enquiries, please email ads@asgam.com or call: (853) 6646 0795 www.asgam.com Printed by Unique Network Printing Factory Ltd. Tel: (853) 2828 2832 Fax: (853) 2828 2830 E-mail: unique@macau.ctm.net Michael Grimes We crave your feedback. Please email your comments tomichael@asgam.com Asian Gaming 50 – 2009 The Mark of Success “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realise how close they were to success when they gave up,” is a saying attributed to Thomas Edison, the man who developed and patented the first commercially successful electric light bulb. The words have some relevance for Asian gaming. On a practical level, it’s difficult to imagine a gaming industry anywhere in the world without the excitements of electric signs and electric power. On a philosophical level, given the amounts of capital invested in the land-based and online industries in the region, it requires a steady nerve and a good deal of faith in the future to keep on investing during a global financial crisis. A lot has happened in the 12months since our first AsianGaming 50 list. The rich have seen their fortunes chopped—in some cases by as much as one-third. A few people with great visions for gaming projects but not much ready cash have seen those schemes evaporate because they couldn’t get other people to fund them. Everyone has felt the pinch of more expensive money at consumer and corporate level and its trickle down effects on everything from customer confidence to staff budgets to marketing effort. That brings us to the issue of faith. Henry Ford, another American pioneer of mass production in the early 20th century, once made the following observation: “If you’re not succeeding at the level you’d like to succeed, my best advice to you is to double your rate of failure.” A distinguishing feature of many people on this year’s Asian Gaming 50 – 2009 list—including in particular those survivors from last year’s list—is that they have kept going… and going… and going, often over many decades, and even when other people advised them to stop or give up. It helps, of course, if you’re in a business with a unique competitive advantage that generates enough cash for you to diversify or follow your vision without borrowing other people’s money. Japan’s pachinko industry with its somewhat hazy post-war history and interesting regulatory status is probably a good example of that. For those that do need a helping hand from other people’s money, survival in a downturn and the push to future prosperity for the entrepreneurs and their investors then becomes an issue of salesmanship. Business plans and financial modelling are pivotal to modern industry. But if you can’t sell your vision to the flesh and blood human investors sitting in front of you, then you can’t survive. It’s really that simple. Hats off to this year’s Asian Gaming 50 – 2009 . Some had easier starts in life than others. A few are gaming ‘royalty’ born into families already powerful in the industry. Most are self-made or corporate employees especially hungry for success. What they all share is this: they have kept going despite the setbacks, sometimes even seemingly against all rational odds. Their energy and their vision have helped to make the gaming industry in general, and the Asian gaming industry in particular, the exciting and vibrant market it is and remains despite the downturn.