Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | June 2011 24 Cover Story Western world, if you just basically transfer it to Macau, I think it will be challenging. So we want to take a bit more of a prudent approach to it, and we would probably see a little more how the market develops in future before we take a big step. You could be lucky, but you could be unlucky too. If you pour let’s say HK$1.5 billion dollars into an entertainment venue, you’ve got to be right. So although we have the financial muscle to be doing it, we want to test the market a little bit first, before we decide to do anything major. What is the most important thing to be mindful of when operating in Macau? You are always an invited guest inMacau. You have to show respect, and you also have to help the community in general. This is why you see Galaxy in the last couple of years engaged heavily in community work. You are well known for your humility— something some of the other casino operators in Macau might be lacking, especially in their dealings with business partners and the local government. In the casino industry, as you know, we have a lot of very big personalities. But Galaxy and I came into the industry from very humble beginnings. I had a clean slate. I wasn’t even in the industry eight years ago. So I came with Asian heart, I came here to learn, respect other people, and see what I can do to integrate all the lessons I learnt into my own creation. Really it’s up to our clients, our friends, and business associates in the industry to let us know whether we’re doing a good job. Even though we have achieved a lot with this product, I’m still driving myself and my executive team to get better. Your father, Dr Lui Chee-woo, set up the first K. Wah company in Hong Kong in the 1950s, and the group has grown into a multinational conglomerate covering construction materials, property development, hotels and entertainment and leisure. What did your father teach you about business? My father told me the best management style is probably to blend a Western management style with Chinese culture. And I think we have achieved that, both in the larger K. Wah Group, where we have a mixed bag of people coming from Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, Macau, America, coming together to work as a team. I was born and raised in Hong Kong, but I went to school in the US. So I know a little bit about how American people think, and understand Western style management, but I’m still Asian at heart. I consider Macau my home turf, and in this part of the world, I know the customers, I know the place, I know the government, I know the people, much better than many of the others. I’ve been doing business in China since 1985, and our family has been doing business here since 1955, so all that actually plays to our strong suits. The only thing we didn’t have when we came to this market is gaming experience. But why did the government at the time choose Galaxy? We have Chinese experience, we run the construction business and real estate business, and we run a big time hotel portfolio as well. The reason in eight short years we’ve been able to be successful is because we can build property economically, quick enough, and we hit the positioning right. If we didn’t have gaming experience ourselves, take a look at how many people we hired from overseas to come and work for us to fill the gap. I’m a good listener, so if I’m not that good at gaming, I’m prepared to listen to what other people suggest to me. Gaming can be learnt, but perhaps relationship building is something much harder to learn. The VIP business is all about servicing and customer relations. We handled that well in our VIP business, and now we are about to prove that in the mass market, we will be as successful. Only time will tell, but we are quietly confident that with our capacity and our service mindset, we should not be doing too badly. What are your expansion plans? We want to be the leading gaming corporation in Asia. We have the biggest land bank on Cotai, and Macau is still going on this explosive growth curve. Everybody wants to be in Macau, so I’m fortunate enough to have the best piece of land in Macau right now, and for the time being we will be focused on making sure Galaxy Macau works, and then we will plan for the future I continue to believe that Macau will be the only city in China that will allow gaming in the future. This is why we’re so optimistic about the future of Macau, as long as we can continue to evolve, diversify and live up to expectations. Macau is going to be the world leadingleisure,recreationandentertainment centre. Macau’s future is limitless. But apart from that, I’d be very interested in a big marketplace such as Japan, and also in Taiwan. These are the usual suspects [for future gaming expansion] that everybody should be interested in, including Galaxy. Can Macau’s infrastructure support Galaxy Macau’s ambitions? I think the government is acutely aware of the pressure. Visitation in Macau reached almost 25 million last year, and it continues growing. This year, to date, it’s been growing at least 15-20% year on year. So there’s great pressure on the infrastructure, but I understand that the central government, the Guangdong government and the Macau SAR government are all doing the best they can to improve it. We understand the [Hong Filial piety—Francis Lui pays respect to his father, Galaxy Entertainment Group Founder and Chairman Dr Lui CheWoo