Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming June 2016 42 Manila’s Tiger Resort on track for 2016 open The first phase of Japanese gaming mogul Kazuo Okada’s Tiger Resort is on track for a December 2016 launch, the company has revealed. Speaking to local reporters about the highly anticipated property located in Manila’s Entertainment City precinct, Tiger Resort President Steve Wolstenholme revealed that the total investment in the first phase would come in at US$2.7 billion following a number of delays but was confident the current deadline would be met. “The investment is on time. We will open our first phase – which is US$2.7 billion – at the end of this year,” Wolstenholme said. “It will be something that is quite spectacular and the most significant investment that is happening in the Philippines. We will change how tourism is perceived here but also will change how the face of entertainment is perceived here.” Tiger Resort was originally scheduled for completion in March 2015 but experienced a number of setbacks during construction, including difficulties finding a local partner. Philippines law requires that foreign developers cannot own more than 40 percent of the land upon which a property is located. Last September Tiger Resorts was granted an extension on its construction deadline by local gambling regulator PAGCOR but was fined US$2.2 million for failing to meet its previous guarantee. Despite the delays, the company recently announced it had also begun work on the second phase of development, with another two phases to follow in the future. “It obviously shows the confidence our owner, Mr Okada, has in the Philippines, this property, the prospects of tourism and the branding,” said Wolstenholme. Exactly when this next phase will be complete and how much it will cost remains to be seen, however. “We’re still evaluating the expenditure,” Wolstenholme explained. “We expect the additional phases to be hundreds of millions of dollars but that is going to be determined by how we see that master plan going forward. Right now our focus is to get open.” REGIONAL BRIEFS Mid-term review mostly positive for Macau casinos The Macau government has released its long-awaited mid-term review of the city’s gaming industry and although the review didn’t provide any great insight into gaming concession renewals, it was generally positive in its appraisal of Macau’s concessionaires. The 254-page report, compiled by The Institute for the Study of Commercial Gaming of the University of Macau over the past 12 months, said that the six casino operators had “all fulfilled the capital commitment in their contracts” and had “obviously created positive impact on the economy and society of Macau.” It referred to the fact that operators had invested MOP$262 billion (US$32.75 billion) in capital spending between 2002 and 2014 and also praised the opportunities the industry had afforded locals. In particular it noted that the proportion of local employees in Macau’s casinos was much higher than in other cities and that the number of local employees in managerial grade positions or above had risen from around 60 percent to 80 percent since 2008. Negative impacts attributed to the gaming industry included pushing up inflation, housing prices and business operating costs as well as creating crowding out effects on SMEs and affecting social values. The report also called for better regulation of the junket industry both to weed out rotten elements and to aid law-abiding junket operators in avoiding debt from poor credit. In total, the review covered nine research topics in four categories including the contractual obligations of Macau’s concessionaires and sub-concessionaires, economic and social impact, junkets human resources, compliance and the relationship between gaming and non-gaming. Secretary for Economy and Finance Lionel Leong Vai Tac said the report was aimed at highlighting what areas operators can improve upon, particularly in regards to the promotion of non- gaming attractions. “We very much hope to have more tourist products suitable for the family,” Leong said. “In the past we only looked at gaming revenue. “We cannot only depend on a small number of customers (VIP players) to generatemost of the revenue. We need to have new clients.” While Leong insisted the report was not about the license renewal process, analysts described it as highly encouraging. Macau’s six concessionaires and sub-concessionaires all have their licenses up for renewal at various times between 2020 and 2022. Moody’s downgrades Macau credit rating Moody’s Investors Services has downgraded the Macau government’s credit rating from Aa2 to Aa3 and assigned it a negative outlook amid concerns the city’s gaming revenues will remain volatile in the foreseeable future. In a press release, Moody’s said that despite recent efforts to diversify Macau’s economy, strategies were still centered “primarily