Aug-Sep 2006 • MOP 30 The Look of Casinos to Come China’s Wild Lottery Ride Macau’s VIP Rooms Firing Customers Spoiled for Choice A new wave of gaming options hits Asia 6 PROVEN PERFORMERS ARISTOCRAT OFFERING 6 UNIQUE GAME PRODUCT CATEGORIES TO THE ASIAN MARKETS August-September 2006 Spoiled for Choice Page 7 ~ China’s Wild Lottery Ride Page 11 ~ Sands Macau’s7 High-Roller Push Page 12 ~ The Look11 of Casinos to Come Page 16 ~12 Macau 2Q Trends Page 22 ~ Macau’s16 VIP Market Structure Page 26 ~22 Firing Customers Page 28 ~ Tour of the Properties26 - Awash With Glamour Page 42 28~ Regional Briefs Aristocrat is proud to present the latest range of gaming products to the Asian Markets and your gaming floor. Page 44 ~ International Briefs Create the perfect balance and gaming mix from our Reel Power™, Multiline™ and 50 Line™ game varieties and 42 progress your players to the exciting world of links with Double Standalone Progresives™ ( DSAP). Aristocrat also offers the latest in Mystery Linked and Linked Progressive gaming packages with Xtreme Mystery solutions and Page 47 ~ Singapore’s Example44 for the Global Gaming Industry the patented Hyperlink™ product to the Asian Markets. 47 For further information please contact the Aristocrat (Macau) Office Telephone: +853 722 777 • Fax: +853 722 783 • Web: www.aristocratgaming.com © 2006 Aristocrat Technologies Australia Pty Limited. Aristocrat, it’s all in the game, game names and the Aristocrat logo are trade marks or registered trade marks of Aristocrat Technologies Australia Pty Limited. AS06AD02 AS06AD02-Game categories cover a1 1 20/7/06 10:01:45 AM IAG ad 7/25/06 4:01 PM Page 1 Editorial Global Vision. Choice Creates Desire The drought of legal casino gaming options in Asia could soon give creates-demand will be repeated in Macau. The properties in the Local Outlook way to a fl ood. pipeline are world-class, but ahead of their arrival, several derelict Japan, mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Thailand ban casinos or unfi nished offi ce and residential buildings in Macau were hastily outright. India only has casinos in Goa and Indonesia only on Bataan converted into hotel-casinos in order to capitalise on surging tourist Island. South Korea restricts all but one of its casinos to foreigners. arrivals, including the Casa Real, Golden Dragon and Galaxy’s Waldo. In Macau. Asia’s casinos are largely restricted to its poorer nations. Of these, These could soon be rendered obsolete. After all, it is quality supply apart from the Philippines, where casinos have signifi cant home- that will offer real choice and create new demand. Supply without For the past 75 years, the Bally name grown demand, casinos in Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, and North quality has thus far only found customers because of Macau’s acute has stood for the broadest array of Korea rely almost exclusively on gamblers coming in across their shortage of gaming tables. borders – mostly from China and Thailand. The border casinos have With choice will come market segmentation. Wynn Macau will court superior gaming products, ranging recently been hit hard as Chinese and Thai authorities cracked down the big-spenders, while Galaxy will attempt to provide “affordable from the latest in video and reel- on citizens gambling abroad. luxury” at StarWorld – which was originally scheduled to open in Au- spinning slot machines to cutting-edge The tide looks set to turn, however, in large part due to the example gust ahead of Wynn Macau, but due to construction delays, will likely casino management and slot accounting of Macau. A former Portuguese colony with a mere 488,000 residents, trail it. Ever-bullish LVS Chairman Sheldon Adelson, meanwhile, says he systems. With the recent opening of our new Macau reverted to Chinese sovereignty in 1999, and has seen a mas- is after every segment, and wants to “maximize every opportunity.” office in Macau, we now proudly bring our sive infl ux of investment from foreign casino operators following New choice will also emerge throughout the rest of Asia. An effort is the liberalisation of its gaming industry in 2001. Macau’s newfound under way to centralize Kazakhstan’s casino operations and create global vision of excellence and innovation to prosperity could spur the introduction of new casinos across Asia, a gambling mecca along the shores of Lake Kapchagai to lure gam- this rapidly emerging and dynamic gaming with Singapore already well on the way to developing two casino- blers from eastern China and the rest of Asia. Kazakhstan already has market. centred “integrated resorts.” over 140 casinos, but the existing properties are hardly world-class. Prior to liberalisation, Macau was also characterised by a lack of casi- There will also be attempts to attract gamblers from Asia’s other • We offer the broadest array of gaming technology no choice, with the mass market long neglected in favour of lucrative emerging powerhouse, India, which, like China, has a rapidly growing products from traditional slot machines to VIP gamblers. In 2003, high-roller baccarat in VIP rooms accounted middle class. August saw the opening of the Shangri-La, the sev- advanced table-management systems in the gaming industry for over 77% of the city’s casino revenue. Choice fi nally arrived in enth casino in the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu, with Bollywood May 2004 when Las Vegas Sands Corp (LVS) unveiled Sands Macau, starlet Urmila Matondkar fl own in for the launch ceremony. Nepal • We are the undisputed world leader in slot the fi rst foreign-operated casino in the city, ending local gambling Recreation Centre, the group responsible for all the country’s casinos, management and slot accounting systems mogul Stanley Ho’s 42-year casino monopoly. Sands’ spacious and is mulling an eighth casino in the popular tourist destination of with more than 345,000 machines running comfortable main gaming fl oor, along with China’s easing of travel Pokhara city. If built, the Pokhara property would become the fi rst a Bally system in 625 locations worldwide restrictions on mainlanders wishing to travel to Macau and Hong casino outside the capital. • We feature an extensive library of video Kong, drew a rush of mass market gamblers to Macau. By the second While China will restrict casinos to Macau for the foreseeable future, gaming titles on the robust, reliable quarter of 2006, VIP baccarat’s share of the city’s casino revenue fell the mainland government has sought to expand the range of legal and technically advanced ALPHA OS™, to 57% as mass market revenues at Sands Macau soared, and the VIP gambling options in the country in order to claw back some of its including our hot new multi-level market stagnated. citizens’ massive spending on illegal gambling activities, as detailed progressive games Choice in Macau will soon expand much further. Wynn Macau will in “China’s Wild Lottery Ride” on page 7. The main initiative has been to introduce high-frequency lotteries, including video lottery termi- • We offer an exciting array of innovative open on September 6, trumpeting itself as the city’s fi rst “destination high-coin reel-spinning slots sharing resort,” and the third quarter of this year will also see the opening nals, which are virtually indistinguishable from slot machines. the same ALPHA OS as our video slots of Galaxy StarWorld, the expansion of Sands Macau, and other new Finally, in search of even more gaming options, Inside Asian Gaming properties from Stanley Ho’s SJM. Next year will witness the arrival boarded a casino cruise ship operating out of Hong Kong for this • We are the systems provider of choice at the of Macau’s fi rst mega-sized integrated resort, enetianV Macau, which issue’s “Tour of the Properties”, on page 28. Sands Macau and a table systems technology will be followed by other monoliths including Galaxy’s Mega Resort, provider to Galaxy Entertainment Group Kareem Jalal MGM Grand Paradise and Melco-PBL’s City of Dreams. For more information about Bally products Analysts are confi dent that the Las Vegas experience of supply- We crave your feedback. Please send your comments to [email protected] or our vision for Macau, please contact Asia Managing Director Cath Burns at +853-785603 or [email protected] Editor and Publisher Kareem Jalal Inside Asian Gaming is published by দ Must Read Publications Ltd Director໊֬ށࡍૌ۾ᆣ۸࿷ᇤႼ۸ދϖ૑ޖሇ Rua de S. Domingos, nr 16-i, Ed. “Hin Lei” 7A - Macau João Costeira Varela Tel: (853) 646 0795 Business Development Manager For subscription enquiries, please email [email protected] Ricardo Carvalho Contributors For advertising enquiries, please email [email protected] Aaron Fischer, Jonathan V. Galaviz, José Ho, Karen Tang, Steve Karoul or call Ricardo Carvalho (Macau) tel: (853) 6828475; Herb Moskowitz (HK) tel: (852) 2838 8702 Photography Ike Av: Dr. Mario Soares. 323, 31st Floor (C) Edf. Banco da China, Macau Graphic Designers www.BallyTech.com Ricardo Borges, Vincenzo Zaccaria ©2006 Bally Gaming, Inc. All rights reserved. 5 JCM CONGRATULATES China’s Wild Lottery Ride Mainland China is expanding its lottery menu. The industry has huge growth potential, but the stock prices Nothing but the best. We’re proud to be part of it. of the companies involved, touted last year as “sure bets,” have recently given in to gravity Wynn Macau is 100% UBA, 100% ICB and 100% TransAct Epic 950. Chinese are reputed to be the most and stratospheric stock price surges have going to fund social welfare – the need for fervent gamblers in the world, yet, until re- turned to slumps. which has increased as a result of the eco- cently, the range of legal gambling options nomic reforms, which led to massive layoffs available in China has been severely restrict- from state-owned enterprises.