Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | June 2011 32 was in no doubt about its significance for the company—as second only in the Asian region to the company’s joint venture in Macau. “Vietnam is an integral part of our strategic plans for ambitious developments in Asia. We believe the Ho Tram development is perfectly suited to complement Vietnam’s rapid growth in international visitation, expanding domestic tourism, and increasing demand for luxury leisure opportunities,” stated Mr Murren. On the one hand, the fact that Vietnamese citizens will not be able to use the casino at MGM Grand Ho Tram—unless they’re one of the approximately 3.7 million Vietnamese with access to a foreign passport—could be seen by some potential investors as a downside for the project. On the other hand, Vietnam boasts one of the fastest growth rates in the region for the number of millionaires, according to a report bywealthmanagement companyMerrill Lynch and consulting company Capgemini. MGM Resorts’ reputation for creating all-round entertainment venues and feeding them customers via the company’s sophisticated marketing system is likely to be central to guaranteeing MGM Grand Ho Tram’s success. In other words, MGM Resorts already has extensive experience of operating environments where leisure and entertainment—rather than pure gambling—are the key drivers of revenues. Inside Asian Gaming spoke to three key executives involved in developing the Ho Tram project for their thoughts on what the market can expect. They are: Gamal Aziz, CEO of MGM Hospitality; Lloyd Nathan, CEO of Asian Coast Development (Canada) Ltd; and John Shigley, President and COO of MGM Grand Ho Tram. Previously, Mr Nathan was President of Global Gaming Development for MGM MIRAGE, the predecessor company to MGM Resorts. IAG : What’s the significance of the Ho Tram Strip project? Lloyd Nathan : We are the only licensed integrated resort in Vietnam under construction. We’re now nine storeys out of the ground and it’s a project with the best blue chip partners—from MGM Resorts to Steelman Partners [architects] to Rider Levett Bucknall [project managers and quantity surveyors] and Meinhardt [engineering consultant]. It’s also the only realistic short- to medium-term large-scale gaming opportunity in the Asia region. Macau and Singapore are lock ups for the foreseeable future. Malaysia is a monopoly. Cambodia is in effect a monopoly because NagaCorp has an exclusive casino licence in Phnom Penh and a large radius around it, and while there are numerous border casinos, there are no integrated resorts there. Myanmar and North Korea present insurmountable issues for today. Laos is a very small market, Indonesia has shown minimal desire for gaming and the current political situation in Thailand is unlikely to lend itself to liberalised casino gaming for the foreseeable future. There are two different viewpoints on whether Japan will liberalise, given the recent and very unfortunate tsunami and Finished product—howMGM Grand Ho Tramwill look after construction John Shigley, Lloyd Nathan and Gamal Aziz at the Ho Tram construction site MGM Grand Ho Tram