Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming September 2015 52 When Mark Brown walks into a room, the theme from Mission: Impossible might be appropriate. Before Mr Brown became Best Sunshine International’s president and CEO in November, it had already announced plans to invest $7.1 billion on Saipan, the largest island in the Commonwealth of Northern Marianas Islands, a US Pacific territory with a population of 57,000 that’s a five-hour flight from the Asian mainland and registered fewer than 500,000 visitors last year. After serving as president and CEO of Trump Entertainment Resorts in Atlantic City, president of Sands China and a stint with NagaCorp to get its Russia project on track, Mr Brown may be facing his biggest challenge. Best Sunshine is part of Hong Kong-listed Imperial Pacific Holdings, previously First Natural Foods. Two years ago, it was taken over by investors in Macau junket promoter Hengsheng. Associates of the new ownership hosted legislators from CNMI who helped get a casino legalization bill for Saipan passed in March, as the government pleaded the upfront license payments were desperately needed to fund retiree pensions. Casino legalization had failed in the past, and Saipan voters had twice rejected it in referendums. CNMI’s smaller islands of Tinian and Rota had already legalized casinos and issued licenses. Tinian Dynasty struggled from its 1998 opening and a casino on Rota closed within weeks. Saipan set the bar high for casino license applicants, demanding a $2 billion investment for a 2,000-room integrated resort. The only takers were Best Sunshine and another Hong Kong investor in the process of buying Tinian Dynasty. In a heated public campaign, Best Mark Brown President and CEO Best Sunshine International Sunshine promised to invest more than the requirement as well as make payments to a community fund for distribution to Saipan citizens. At the start, it all seemed like a good idea: Macau was booming, CNMI had little regulatory capacity and the sovereignUS seemed oblivious. Since then, Macau revenue has kept falling and US authorities raided Tinian Dynasty over suspected money laundering, beating back a legal challenge to their authority to regulate CNMI gaming to exact $78 million in fines and forfeitures for money laundering. Still, after Best Sunshine won, it said it would invest $3.14 billion, and then in September, it issued a $7.1 billion development plan in five phases with a total of 4,252 rooms, 300 villas, 1,600 tables and 3,500 machines. The first phase is a “town hotel” apart from the IR, to open next year with 50 rooms, 300 tables and 500 machines. That’s where Mr Brown came in. In April, Best Sunshine signed a lease for public land to complete a 59,000-square-meter (635,000 square foot) site for the town hotel, and began construction on 15th July, with completion expected in 16 months. More immediately, Best Sunshine got the authorities to approve a “training facility” for its casino employees. The $25 million project wouldn’t be a conventional school but a working casino that opened in late July in a shopping mall catering to tourists. With just a fraction of its planned 44 tables and 106 machines, the casino reportedly raked in $500,000 in its first two days of operations. Best Sunshine says it’s seeking a site for that $6 billion-plus resort that few expect to ever get built. Then again, we all know how Mission: Impossible episodes turn out. Caesars Entertainment finally got a gaming license in Asia, largely thanks to the persistence of Steven Tight, its president for international development. Now Mr Tight must get Caesars’ Asian flagship in South Korea right while looking for more licenses as Steven Tight President International Development Caesars Entertainment Caesars struggles through a contentious $22.6 billion bankruptcy. “The restructuring of Caesars’ operating subsidiary has not impacted our ability to pursue our project in Korea or other opportunities in the region,” Mr Tight, whose project development resume includes serving as Hong Kong Disneyland’s first managing director, says. “We are committed to expanding Caesars’ presence into Asia and to evaluate new opportunities throughout the region.” Caesars is playing catch-up. Harrah’s, which bought Caesars in 2005 and took its name, missed the boat in Macau twice. It passed on the initial license offer in 2001, then refused to match Melco Crown’s $900 million for Wynn Resorts’ subconcession in 2006. “A big mistake,” Caesars Chairman Gary Loveman, who stepped down as CEO on 30th June, concedes. Back in 2002, the Caesars chunk of the future company was recommended for a gaming license by