Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming september 2016 8 “I don’t envy you.” Those were the words of a very senior gaming industry executive when the subject of the Asian Gaming Power 50 recently came up over dinner. My inner monologue’s reply, which I kept to myself, was in the form of JFK’s immortal words, “We choose to do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” And indeed it has been a Herculean task to put this list together. How on earth do you compare the sole owner of a smaller property to the brand new “hired help” COO of a much larger one? How do you compare a large property that is still in pre-opening to a smaller one that has been pumping for years? How do you compare a junket operator in Macau to the CEO of the Hong Kong Jockey Club? Or the head of a smallish casino company about to go public to the government-appointed President of a casino chain in Korea that doesn’t have locals gaming? These are the tough questions the selection panel of the Asian Gaming Power 50 has had to wrestle with. When World Gaming Group acquired Inside Asian Gaming last year, we inherited the Asian Gaming 50 with it. Already eight years old, there was absolutely no way we could (or should) abandon this annual ranking of the top 50 people in the Asian gaming industry – our annual list published in September is the most popular issue of IAG each year. But we did listen to many of our industry friends to sound out their thoughts on the “Big 50” as it is sometimes called. As with any such ranked list, there are always criticisms and objections, usually from those who feel slighted against. It amuses us that while we often hear bold claims of not reading the list or not caring about it, many on the list still contact us directly (or more often via their surrogates) to bemoan the injustice of their lowly position. Strangely, no-one has ever contacted us to complain about being ranked too high! Without doubt, the Asian Gaming 50 has contained some controversial decisions in years past and even perhaps some glaring omissions. It was against this background that we decided to completely overhaul the list and the ranking methodology, and create a selection panel to gain a wider variety of views. We expect that selection panel to grow and further No Easy Task The making of the Asian Gaming Power 50 By Andrew W Scott IAG Power 50 selection panel Chairman Asian Gaming POWER 50 2 0 1 6