Inside Asian Gaming

september 2016 inside asian gaming 15 Asian Gaming POWER 50 2 0 1 6 Lim Kok Thay EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN AND CEO Genting Berhad Power 3,455 last 3 Score year Claims to Fame: Leads only truly global gaming group Top Asian in US gaming Aggressively seeking expansion worldwide 3 Lim Kok Thay has taken the family business global. In 1965, his father Lim Goh Tong began building the road from the Malaysian town of Genting though the jungle to what’s now Resorts World Genting, a road Genting Group has extended under the Resorts World brand to Singapore, London, Manila, New York, Bimini and Birmingham. Jeju and Las Vegas are also in the works and perhaps Massachusetts and Miami as well. Critics note one big name missing from that list: Macau. Without an outpost in the world’s largest casino hub, Genting can never be a first tier player, some say. That’s fair fodder for parlor debate but cold, hard figures place Genting and its 65-year-old boss at the forefront of Asian – and global – gaming. By the numbers, Genting is massive, with five interlocking listed companies in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong with private family vehicles such as Kien Huat Realty ensuring control. In 2015, the group had US$4.2 billion in revenue, US$1.2 billion in EBITDA and US$762 million in net profits, plus a cash pile of US$5.5 billion – all deflated by a 23% fall in the Malaysian ringgit. For all its breadth, including Crockfords in London’s plush Mayfair district, dozens of UK regional casinos, a 6.6% stake in Australia’s Star Entertainment (formerly Echo) – with approval from regulators to buy up to 23% of the Sydney and Queensland operator – Genting still relies on Singapore and Malaysia for 75% of EBITDA and 72% of revenue. Neither operation looks likely to grow much or fast, spurring diversification in earnest. In the Philippine capital, Genting Hong Kong is completing a US$650 million expansion of its Resorts World Manila joint venture that also holds a plot for RW Bayshore in Entertainment City, unlikely to open before the end of this decade. In South Korea, the US$1.8 billion RW Jeju joint venture opens in phases from next year. Genting HK also aims to make a bigger splash in the cruise business, where Mr Lim reportedly cut his company teeth. Last year, it completed swapping its share of Norwegian Cruise Lines for full ownership of Crystal Cruises, a luxury specialist, and announced Dream Cruises, “the first-ever Asian based premium cruise line brand.” They join Star Cruises, with gaming revenue of around US$300 million, Genting’s “contemporary” market entry. Genting has purchased a shipyard to support its sailing ambitions. Amid these big plays in Asia, Mr Lim – who succeeded his father in 2007 – is directing a multi-pronged growth offensive in America, recalling the family history as a key lender to tribal casino Foxwoods in the early 1990s. On the Strip, construction of US$4 billion Resorts World Las Vegas heads toward a 2019 opening. In Florida, Genting has a 30 acre waterfront land bank from which it hopes to create Resorts World Miami, despite opposition from Disney and tribal casinos. Slots parlor Resorts World New York, near Kennedy Airport, keeps pushing to add hotel and convention facilities. Through Kien Huat, Mr Lim won a gaming license two hours north of New York City. In Massachusetts, Genting is in a race with Wynn Resorts and MGM to open the state’s first casino, tapped to run the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe’s US$1 billion First Light in Taunton, south of Boston, a plan facing legal hurdles. It’s a vast empire and Mr Lim holds it together.