Crime Scene - Inside Asian Gaming

August 2012 • MOP 30 • ISSN 2070-7681

Crime SceneShades of a violent past …Is the new Macau worried?

Jumbo Technology: Serving Demand Category Killer: Dreamworld Pailin Aruze: Defining FunGieseke & Devrient: Making it Count

Casino success in Matsu ultimately depends on Beijing

GPI’s latest anti-counterfeitersecurity features

Different Visions: Cotai vs. Manila Bay

C O N T E N T SAugust 2012

Crime Scene

4 Crime Scene

10 The Making of Matsu

14 Different Visions

20 Currency Protection

26 Serving Demand

30 Category Killer

34 Thinking Inside the Box

38 Defining Fun

42 Making It Count

44 Regional Briefs

46 International Briefs

48 Events Calendar30

20

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | August 20122

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A Win-Win for EverybodyIn another sign that Macau’s casino industry is growing

in maturity as well as in size, some 200 employees from the various properties have banded together to form the Macau Gaming Management Association. Their stated aim, to “professionalize” gaming management through communication and collaboration, skills enhancement and the promotion of international service standards, is certainly a laudable one. An educated, motivated workforce is vital to running these complex operations more efficiently and more profitably, and that has to translate over time into a better experience for the millions who come to Macau to visit and play.

Mid- and low-level management are the business world’s unsung heroes, the people who make the trains run on time, performing critical jobs that tend to go unnoticed until something goes wrong, jobs that remain thankless for the most part, as anyone who’s done them knows, and never especially remunerative jobs either. So it was encouraging to see the support accorded the association at its formal inauguration at the MGM Grand Ballroom last month. The six concessionaires all sent high-ranking representatives to the ceremony. Macau’s Secretary for Economy and Finance Francis Tam Pak Yuen gave the keynote address. Joining him were Executive Council member Leong Vai Tac, who will serve as an honorary president of the association; Chen Xiang, vice director-general of the Economic Affairs Department of the PRC’s Macau Liaison Office; DICJ Director Manuel Joaquim das Neves, also an honorary president; and DICJ Deputy Director Leong Man Ion, who will serve as a member of a board of advisors together with Sharon Cheong, director of Community Relations & Projects for Melco Crown Entertainment; Melina Leong, vice president of Public Relations and Community Affairs for The Venetian; and Wynn Macau’s Director of Communications Katherine Liu.

As for the 100 or so who were in the audience, they were the fresh, eager faces one tends to encounter in Macau’s casinos wearing the telltale uniforms or business dress that mark them as employees. China, for all its storied history, is a young country. As for Macau, turn any corner and you’re likely to confront some relic of the past, but all around you the streets and sidewalks teem with young people. The city’s principal industry, as we know it today, is a young industry, less than a decade old. For its rank and file, workers mostly in their 20s and early 30s, these big, flashy resorts that have sprung up in their midst seemingly overnight are providing them with their first taste of the world, their first experience of life away from the bosom of family and classroom. Which is where the MGMA comes in. It can stimulate these young minds, inculcate in them a worldliness that will inspire them to think in career terms and provide them with tools to enable them to advance in their careers, not only in Macau but in a leisure and hospitality sector that is bursting at the seams across East Asia. If nothing else, it has the potential to engage its members more personally in what they do for a living, helping to instill in them an esprit de corps that will make the experience of coming to work every day more meaningful for them, and for that reason alone, more rewarding.

As the group’s new president, Davis Fong Ka Chio, put it, “To cope with the challenges and rapid developments of the gaming and tourism industries in the region, it is vital to develop and cultivate a large group of gaming management professionals with an international vision.”

Mr Fong, associate professor of Hospitality & Gaming Management at the University of Macau, knows whereof he speaks. He is director of the university’s Institute for the Study of Commercial Gaming and a leader in articulating academia’s response to the industry’s transformative impact on the city and the Chinese nation. Joining him as academic advisors to the group are UMAC’s Ricardo C.S. Siu, associate professor of Business Economics, and Desmond Lam, associate professor of Marketing, Koo Leung Chee, assistant director of the Macau Gaming Research Association, and Associate Professor Samuel Huang Gui Hai of Macao Polytechnic Institute’s Gaming Teaching and Research Centre.

Most important, the MGMA is structured so that members will benefit from mentoring by peers who are setting world-class standards in service, administration and marketing. Joining Mr Fong on the group’s General Assembly are Wendy Yu, vice president-Human Resources at MGM Macau; Buddy Lam, vice president-Public Relations for Galaxy Entertainment Group; Hannah Koo, head of the Research & Statistics Department at SJM; and Oscar Lam, senior manager-Internal Audit at Wynn Macau.

Josephine Un, senior manager for Strategic Marketing at Melco Crown and chairwoman of the association’s 29-member Executive Committee, outlined a “working plan” that includes educational workshops, field study in jurisdictions outside Macau, collaborative research projects, “sharing sessions” with members of the industry and academia, and a “Service Excellence Campaign” in which casino operators will be invited to organize a competition among members tasked with developing “innovative yet feasible” proposals for improving the quality of service industry-wide.

It’s an ambitious program. But then it’s quite a mission the MGMA have set for themselves. We wish them success.

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Cover Story

As much as the world has changed for Macau in the last decade, it doesn’t take a lot for those who were here in

the bad old days at the turn of the century to recall what it was like when colonial rule, such as it was after 400 years, had disintegrated, and China had yet to assume sovereignty, and open warfare raged among the infamous triads for control of a city rich in vice, the big prize being the lucrative high-stakes gambling rooms of Stanley Ho’s Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau, which held the monopoly on casinos in the only place in China where casinos were legal.

Twenty gang-related murders were reported in 1997, 21 the year before. The violence was so widespread that in an effort to allay the fears of the tourists, General Manuel Monge, under-secretary for security for the Portuguese government at the time, famously quipped that “our triad gunmen are excellent marksmen” who “would not miss their targets and hit innocent bystanders.” Which proved all too true, as those who attempted to enforce the law were not

spared. Victims linked to triad assassins included a customs officer, a gambling inspector and General Monge’s own driver. On 1st May 1998, a bomb exploded under the car of Antonio Marques Baptista, director of the Policía Judiciára. The city had descended into something close to anarchy.

Now and then, whenever the general’s droll words are exhumed, usually it’s as an epitaph on the last days of a dying order, before the arrival of the listed gaming corporations from America and their big-box resorts aimed at families, shoppers and conventioneers.

That was not the case recently, when in the midst of a rare flurry of mayhem—three murders and a savage assault in the space of a month—they appeared in a New York Times story on the beating of 65-year-old Ng Man Sun, also known as Ng Wai and more popularly as “Street Market Wai,” a casino boss, junket operator and VIP room promoter who came up in Hong Kong’s rough-and-tumble Mong Kok District and holds a controlling stake in the Greek

Mythology Casino out on Taipa island, not far from the glittering new Cotai Strip. Mr Ng was set upon on 24th June by a group of armed men in a restaurant in the New Century Hotel, where his casino is located, and worked over so roughly he had to be hospitalized.

A couple of weeks later, in an unrelated crime, two mainland men in their 30s were

Roughed up—Ng Man Sun

Crime SceneMacau receives a discomfiting reminder of its violent past

Crime SceneMacau receives a discomfiting reminder of its violent past

August 2012 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 5

Cover Story

found stabbed to death in a room at the luxury Grand Lapa Hotel, within sight of Sands Macao, the first of the U.S.-owned, Las Vegas-style casinos that were supposed to have ushered in the new era of corporate legitimacy. A week or so after this, the body of a Chinese woman with a Japanese passport was found in her Taipa apartment. She’d been bludgeoned or stabbed, investigators weren’t sure which.

Asked at that point if violent crime was on the rise in the city, a spokesman for the Policía Judiciára answered as police spokesmen do: that it could not be determined based on two unrelated murder cases.

There are those who disagree, like the security expert who suggested in a Reuters interview that Macau is sliding into a “period of instability”.

“There seems to be a disturbance … amongst the lower end of the junket community,” said Steve Vickers, who served in law enforcement in Hong Kong under the British and now runs a consulting firm there.

What’s happening is the stupendous rates of growth that have characterized Macau’s casino market the last few years are on the decline, and those who hold with Mr Vickers see this as part of a potentially dangerous pattern of cause and effect, an unsettling ripple at the edge of a souring world economy that is crimping growth in mainland China, Macau’s principal feeder market, and causing the wealthy there to pull back on their free-spending ways at the baccarat tables. Some insiders say bad debt within the sector is on the rise, debt which is not enforceable under law in the PRC, and the junkets and their affiliated promoters and organizers that bring in the VIPs and provide them credit are facing a liquidity crunch, or a crisis, depending on where they rank on the food chain, and this at a time when they’re all having to compete more aggressively than usual for a shrinking pool of high-net-worth gamblers.

The junkets “operate on a knife edge,” Mr Vickers told The New York Times. “Any disturbance can set off a war between them.”

A ‘Feel-Good Story’It’s a compelling view for those who

remember the bad old days. There is another way to understand the turmoil of the late ‘90s, which is to see it as something that wasn’t unique to Macau at all but was part of a spasm of violence that was region-wide,

an outgrowth of the political and economic instability of that time, the growing pains from which modern China emerged. Actually, the bloodshed was far worse in Hong Kong and on the mainland.

The tipping point for Macau came in 1998 amid the burning wreckage of Police Director Baptista’s car. The authorities had decided enough was enough, and within hours of the attack the city’s most wanted gangster, Wan Kuok Koi, alias “Broken Tooth Wan,” was arrested in a suite at Stanley Ho’s Casino Lisboa. The flamboyant Mr Wan, who reveled in his role as the reputed leader, or “dragonhead,” of a triad clan known as the 14K and had even commissioned a movie about himself, had appeared in a Time magazine article only a month earlier in which he was photographed posing in front of a Ferrari.

Mr Wan was not charged in connection with the bombing but was tried on loan-sharking, money-laundering and other offenses, including being a member of a criminal organization, and the following November he was convicted and sentenced to 15 years.

At almost exactly the same time as he was being led off to prison, a less publicized drama unfolded in neighboring Zhuhai, where the Provincial High People’s Court of

Guangdong affirmed the death sentence of a Hong Kong gangster named Ye Cheng Jian, alias “Cunning Kin,” for a string of murders and robberies. Thirteen of his co-defendants got prison terms. Kin and two accomplices were promptly taken out and stood before firing squads.

That was a month before Macau’s official repatriation to China, and the message was not lost on the bad guys: This wasn’t Portugal anymore. Step out of line and disturb the peace at your peril.

Today, Macau is one of the least violent cities of its size and unique circumstances in the world. After peaking at 42 in 1999, the number of reported homicides has steadily fallen even as population and visitation have soared. From 2000 to 2009, the city grew 57%, from 350,000 people to 550,000. Ten million visitors came in 2000. Last year, it was more than 28 million. Over this period, reported homicides have ranged from three to nine per year. Atlantic City, a casino town with 40,000 year-round residents and 29 million visitors, had 12 reported homicides last year and 900 reported incidents of violent crime, a rate of 20.7 crimes per 1,000 people. In Macau, with more than 10 times the population, there were four reported homicides and 648 violent crimes, a rate of 1.2 per 1,000.

Today, Macau is one of the least violent cities of its sizeand unique circumstances in the world.

After peaking at 42 in 1999, the number of reported homicides has steadily fallen even as population

and visitation have soared.


Cover Story

The triads have done little to disturb the relative calm. If anything they’ve probably been among its guardians—and one of the principal beneficiaries of the prosperity that has ensued by virtue of the intricate ties they enjoy to the junkets and VIP room promoters.

As a former police officer familiar with the industry told Inside Asian Gaming last May, “If you look down the list of licensed junket operators in Macau, sure, you will not find one known triad among them. But I can assure you, none of the big junket operators in Macau could operate unless they were connected to the triads.”

In turn, the junkets have provided the triads with “access to capital,” as one investment analyst has suggested, “and the ability to make money in a manner not previously available to them.”

So they haven’t gone away, they’ve merely availed themselves of the opportunities presented by the new order of things. And with the casinos pumping out cash at levels no gambling market has ever seen, with the government reaping the tax windfall, and the economy humming at full employment, there is

little political will to try to root them out “Everyone has enough rice to eat,” as Stanley Ho once put it—which to the Chinese mindset conveys something very close to an ideal state of affairs.

The same analyst said, “I expect that they will evolve into good corporate citizens. There is a lot at stake if they don’t.”

The Grand Lapa, where the two mainland men were killed, is a former Mandarin Oriental hotel, a five-star property whose current owner, Jimei Group, is a Macau-based holding company controlled by junketeer extraordinaire Jack Lam. Jimei has a hand in everything from real estate to financial management to hospitality and tour and travel, cruise ships and casinos in the Philippines and Macau, where it is also a major VIP room operator. Whoever may or may not be connected to these enterprises at various points along the line, certainly the last thing Jimei would want is blood on the carpeting.

“No one wants to crash the party,” Ko Lin Chin, a U.S. university professor who specializes in the study of Asian organized crime, told Reuters. “This is a feel-good story.”

The Pending Shake-OutWhat then of the crisis in casino

revenues? In the anxiety that accompanied May’s numbers, which showed growth of only 7% year on year, few in the investment community were willing to consider that year-on-year comparisons were bound to pale at some point, given the sheer size of the market, and this seems largely to have obscured the fact that May was actually the second-highest-grossing month on record. The gain in June was 12%, but it was below analysts’ estimates and cold comfort for shareholders spoiled by the ethereal gains that have characterized much of the last two years, like the 52% growth posted in June 2011.

Not surprisingly, analysts have lowered their projections for this year. A sampling has Fitch at the low end at 10-12% (down from 15%), Macquarie at 13% (down from 15%), CLSA at 16% (down from 21%).

What we do know is that total GGR is up 19.8% year to date through June. VIP baccarat revenue, the cause of most of the concern, is up 15%.

But there are wealth indicators pointing in the opposite direction as well. May retail sales in Hong Kong grew at their weakest pace since 2009, according to government figures. Luxe brands like Burberry and Prada posted lower gains. Chow Tai Fook, the world’s largest jewelry retailer and a bellwether of how the well-off in China are feeling about life, posted a 16% increase in second-quarter sales, way off the 61% increase recorded in the fiscal year ended in March. Same-store sales were up only 4%. In Macau and Hong Kong, which together account for almost half of Chow Tai Fook’s business, they were about flat at 1%.

VIP turnover was down 2.1% year-on-year in June, although some junkets did quite well over that period. To the degree the turnover decline in June is indicative of a downward trend, it’s one the larger networks should be able to ride out. They can reduce their exposure and shore up their books by lending less and tightening up on terms—which they’re doing, according to reports. They can cast a wider net for high-value players. They have the leverage with the casinos to tweak the rules of engagement in terms of the revenue-split and other areas of mutual interest.

Others may not be so fortunate—those at the “lower end,” as Steve Vickers describes them.

[The triads] haven’t gone away, they’ve merely availed themselves of the opportunities presented

by the new order of things. And with the casinos pumping out cash at levels no gambling market has ever seen, with the government reaping the tax windfall, and the

economy humming at full employment, there is little political will to try to root them out.

Annual Number of Homicides in Macau, 1990 to 2009

01990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Source: Macau Statistics and Census Bureau


But then things can go terribly wrong in Macau even in a booming economy. Just ask A-Max Holdings.

Closely linked with Ng Man Sun, whom it lists at times as an “associate,” at times as a “substantial shareholder,” A-Max was the high-flying company that put Altira (then known as Crown Macau) on the map back in 2007 with a unique strategy. It would operate as a junket “aggregator,” locking up several promoters under a subsidiary that would enjoy exclusive run of the casino’s VIP rooms. In exchange for certain guarantees on rolling chip turnover, Altira’s then-fledgling owner, Melco Crown Entertainment, agreed to pay the subsidiary company, which happened to be controlled by Mr Ng, a premium of 10 basis points over the standard 1.25% casinos normally pay the junkets as commission. With the aid of Melco Crown, Hong Kong-listed A-Max raised HK$2 billion on the public markets, the money was plowed into Altira in the form of rolling chips, and the two were in business.

The deal had Street Market Wai’s prints all over it, and it hit Macau’s intensely competitive VIP market like a Molotov cocktail, sparking a rate war that took

months to quell and ended only when the other casino concessionaries, as a matter of survival, banded together around 1.25% and prevailed on the government to cap commissions at that rate as a matter of law.

It’s worth noting that what might have happened in the old days didn’t. Not a drop of blood was shed. Not that it did A-Max much good. Its business model promptly collapsed. Melco Crown moved on to other partners, which A-Max claimed was a breach of contract. Mr Ng was to sell off the subsidiary, but no takers were found. A-Max is still trying to recoup some HK$1.9 billion in loans to Altira gamblers.

The company hasn’t fared much better at Greek Mythology, which has been its principal source of revenue. The casino technically is owned by Hong Kong-listed SJM Holdings, Stanley Ho’s post-monopoly operating company, which gets a cut of the revenue in one of those semi-feudal sorts of arrangements that make Western regulators squirm but suit the business culture of China quite naturally. Jimei’s Grand Lapa operates in a similar fashion. In all there are 20 of these “satellite” casinos

in Macau, 14 under the SJM umbrella, six under the other Chinese concessionaire, Galaxy Entertainment Group.

A-Max bought an initial 7.4% stake in Greek Mythology in a deal agreed on in 2004 that cost A-Max a reported US$78 million—$5 million more than the place cost to build. As part of subsequent agreements that had the effect of solidifying Mr Ng’s hold over its destiny, the company later raised its stake to 49.9%. Big things were in the offing at the time. The casino was going to expand to double its size. An entity called Greek Mythology Entertainment Group, with Ng Man Sun listed as president, announced its intention in 2005 to bid for one of the two Singapore resorts. There was talk of investing in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Over time, it all dissipated like the morning mist in these semi-tropic parts. A-Max learned to its surprise, or so it claims, that its 49.9% was in fact only 24.8%. There had been further maneuverings that saw Mr Ng transfer shares as repayment on a loan from his business partner, a woman named Chen Mei Huan with whom he’d also had two children.

A-Max has attempted to diversify and has moved into lotteries on the mainland. But with more liabilities than assets, and its earnings potential at Greek Mythology slashed by nearly half, it stated its condition in its latest annual report as one leaving “significant doubt about the Group’s ability to continue as a going concern”.

Unabashed, Mr Ng has demanded the removal of the company’s nine directors and their replacement by himself, his daughter and three others of his choosing. Last month, he fired off a letter to that effect from his bed at Hospital Conde de São Januário on Guia Hill, where he is recovering from the injuries he suffered in the attack.

Observers, meanwhile, are talking about a shakeout within the junket community.

“It will more likely be the big guys

The commission rate war took months to quelland ended only when the other concessionaries, as a

matter of survival, banded together around 1.25%and prevailed on the government to cap commissions

at that rate as a matter of law. It’s worth notingthat what might have happened in the old days didn’t.

Not a drop of blood was shed.

Remnant of a bygone era—Greek Mythology


dominating,” said Hoffman Ma, who heads the company that operates Ponte 16 casino and hotel, one of the SJM satellites.

Neptune Group, the Hong Kong listed parent of one of the city’s biggest junkets, told Reuters it’s looking to acquire VIP room operators. NASDAQ-traded Asia Entertainment & Resources, another prominent junketeer, also expects to be a buyer and said it is considering a dual listing on the HKSE to fund its expansion plans. Reports are that affiliates of SunCity and some other major players might also test the public markets.

Mr Ng and Ms Chen are no longer a pair, having fallen out over their respective rights in Greek Mythology and its host hotel. Or perhaps it’s a love gone sour, as some suggest. In any event, things had been getting increasingly ugly between them in the weeks preceding the attack.

A ‘Beautiful War’It could be that the thinking in Beijing

back at the turn of the century was the junkets would fade in importance once STDM’s monopoly was permitted to expire and outside investment began to transform Macau into a respectable leisure destination. That might have been naïve. There are now upwards of 200 of them, companies and individuals, holding licenses from the Macau Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau. A troublesome legacy of the bad old days, perhaps, but they have not only survived into the new era, they’ve also been its mainstay, delivering the high rollers who generate 70% or more of casino revenues, supplying and assuming the risk for most of the credit that greases the wheels, and functioning ultimately as the largest source of government revenue. Something like

US$500 billion a year in rolling chip volume passes through these sprawling networks—and, to be sure, their secret partners and investors—and yet the machine has managed to fly smoothly beneath the radar while driving GGR growth from around US$3 billion a decade ago to more than $33 billion, the equivalent of five Las Vegas Strips. They’ve done it in the teeth of currency and travel restrictions, with no formal banking infrastructure to support them and no system for adjudicating conflicts in civil law. In the process, they’ve been instrumental in sustaining the fortunes of three of the world’s largest publicly traded resort conglomerates. Wynn Resorts, Las Vegas Sands and MGM Resorts International now proudly call themselves Chinese companies, as well they should.

At 91, Stanley Ho, who presided over this world for about as long as anyone can remember, has faded into ill health to leave 17 children and various wives and concubines to squabble over his fortune. As for the likes of Street Market Wai and Broken Tooth Wan, no doubt they’re puzzling over how they fit into the new order.

If it’s true of the man who calls himself Ng Man Sun that he invented the modern junket system with Dr Ho back in the 1980s, then he is in his hospital room now up on Guia Hill, looking down from Macau’s highest point at a city he largely helped create. On that same promontory the policeman Antonio Marques Baptista had gone jogging the day his car exploded in flames

It appears that Mr Ng, at 65, has no intention of going quietly. His ex-lover bamboozled him, so he claims, persuading him to hand over a controlling interest in the New Century for the promise of a land grant on Cotai that never materialized.

Worse, he believes she’s cuckolded him, according to a tabloid story making the rounds in Hong Kong. A recent visitor to his hospital bed reported him morose, uninterested in talking. He has answered his attackers by taking out an ad in the Chinese-language Macau Daily News offering HK$10 million for information on the “mastermind” behind them.

In December, Wan Kuok Koi expects to walk out a free man from a special security wing of the Estabelecimento Prisional de Macau out on Coloane island. He will be 57.

It is difficult to imagine that he has lost his taste for the limelight in the years he’s been away. Triad members are said to comprise two-thirds of the male inmates of the Prisional, where reports have it that Mr Wan enjoys female visitors and has use of a mobile phone.

Reputedly a protégé of Mr Ng early in his career, by the late ’90s, they had become bitter rivals. In July 1997, at the height of the triad wars, the front of the New Century was strafed with gunfire. In the interview Mr Wan gave to Time, he spoke at length of their feud, promising to wage a “beautiful war” against Street Market Wai and vowing to “wipe him out”.

Mr Wan’s lawyer, Pedro Redinha, avers that his client has no intention of returning to the life he led before he went away. Moreover, he intends to prove his innocence. “He wants to come to my office to re-examine his case and the grounds for his imprisonment,” Mr Redinha told the South China Morning Post last spring. “I’m absolutely sure he will contact me on his release. He still feels it was an unfair ruling.”

In anticipation, according to a more recent Post report, casino executives are beefing up their personal security.

Cover Story

If it’s true of the man who calls himself Ng Man Sun that he invented the modern junket system with Stanley Ho back in the 1980s, then he is in his hospital room now up on

Guia Hill, looking down from Macau’s highest point at a city he largely helped create.


On 7th July, residents of the offshore Taiwan island chain of Matsu took part in a historic referendum,

assenting in principal to the construction of Taiwan’s first casino on the archipelago. Although a milestone, the victory was far from compelling. In fact, of the near 10,000-strong population, only 1,795 people voted in favour whilst 1,341 voted against the motion. A swing of 228 people would have made the difference. Despite the slim margin, the result has paved the way for a casino on Matsu—possibly two—with the government of Taiwan now considering a draft bill that would formally legalize gaming. The problem for interested developers, however, is that Matsu’s location on the doorstep of China comes with high political risk and its

infrastructure is wholly inadequate.

Infrastructure and Administrative Bottlenecks

The area’s two feeder airports, Beigan and Nangan, are tiny—amounting to 166,000 seats to Taipei annually, while the lack of basic resources is apparent. It costs NT$80 (US$2.66) per tonne to supply fresh water to Matsu compared with the national average of NT$11 per tonne, and the same dynamic applies to electricity. Local residents receive a government subsidy on these resources, but a casino would probably have to pay full price. Supplying a major resort’s needs would also require a significant investment in boosting the supply chain. Add to that a tiny land mass (covering 25 square km)

and population—not to mention the need to minimize the social and environmental impact of development on a sleepy community—and Matsu’s only real asset for a would-be integrated resort operator is arguably its new legal status.

Fortunately, the pro-gaming lobby should be able to rely on government support. The administration has been intent on legalizing gaming ever since it passed the Offshore Islands Development Act in 2009, allowing casinos to be built on Taiwan’s outlying islands pending local referenda. It’s therefore highly likely that Taiwan will introduce gaming in one location or another in the next decade, and that plays into Matsu’s hands as the first mover. In fact, Grant Govertsen, partner and analyst at Union Gaming Research Macau, thinks

The Making of MatsuAs in Macau, casino success in Matsu ultimately depends on Beijing

Market Outlook


there’s a high chance that gaming will take root on Matsu. “I’m an outsider but it feels like there’s support in the legislature to implement the necessary regulatory bill,” he says. “I think it should come to fruition, but in terms of timing it’s a five-year or more story from now.”

Weidner Resorts has tabled a NT$60 billion (US$2 billion) bid to develop a casino resort on Matsu. The proposal is based on a complete overhaul of Matsu’s infrastructure (as will be any pitch with serious intent) such as investing NT$12 billion to upgrade the airport from its current 2C classification to 3C. Bill Weidner himself said in a press conference on 9th July, “I don’t see any problems that cannot be solved by modern technology,” and he’s right. Matsu’s infrastructure can be fixed, but the challenges are numerous.

To tackle the task, the Taiwanese administration itself needs a re-think, as Davis Fong, director of the Institute for the Study of Commercial Gaming at the University of Macau, points out. “There are several legal elements for the Taiwanese government to think about,” he explains. “But first of all they need to set up a specific department to regulate the rules of the gaming industry.” The problem, according to Mr Fong, is that to regulate the new industry the executive needs to introduce a new layer of government specifically

designed for the purpose.As it stands, the Ministry of Transportation

and Communication has taken the reins, but it is imperative the Taiwan government centralizes expertise in one body. The Executive Yuan spokesman, Hu Yu-wei, accidentally hit on the problem last month (July) when he said the Financial Supervisory Commission was best placed to regulate gaming odds, while the Public Construction Commission should oversee the building process along with the Construction and Planning Agency. His comments suggest that the necessary expertise is currently diluted across government rather than managed vertically down, and that’s before the government has even begun to formulate policies on local residents’ rights to gamble, junkets, tax rates and so on. The formation of a casino regulatory body could be a first step towards addressing the long list of issues the government needs to address.

The administrative and infrastructure issues can be addressed with planning and investment, but there is a deeper problem—and that’s Matsu’s geographic location. Owing to the island chain’s location 10 miles from China and 110 miles from the main island of Taiwan, the success of any casino on Matsu will depend on Chinese rather than Taiwanese gamblers. Even if the archipelago’s transportation links are

brought up to scratch, the difference in travel time between Taipei and Macau compared with Taipei and Matsu will be negligible: roughly half an hour. The bottom line is that it won’t be Taiwanese gamblers filling Matsu’s coffers, and that will push the fortunes of any casino out of Taiwanese control.

Beijing’s Blessing Required“As far as I’m concerned, the success

of a casino—whether it’s in Matsu, Jinmen or Penghu (other outlying islands)—will be 100% related to how Beijing views it”, admits Mr Govertsen. If the 37 million residents of Fujian (the nearest Chinese province) are given unfettered access to Matsu, then a casino resort there will be an unqualified success. The chances of that, however, are slim.

Taiwan needs some kind of consent from Beijing to allow its citizens to visit any planned resort on Matsu before it even begins the project, but Beijing obviously will not simply sign a document promising a certain number of visitors per year. On top of that, Beijing will be able to use visitor numbers as a bargaining chip with Taiwan. Essentially, it’s in Beijing’s best interests to support the project in its infancy, because if it comes to fruition, Beijing will have de facto control over its revenues and be able to use that as leverage in cross-straits diplomacy.

Beijing has a historically hostile relationship with Taiwan, one built on decades of military strategising, aggressive diplomacy and now economic incentivisation to re-unite Taiwan with the Mainland. Despite relations between Taiwan and the Mainland having thawed in recent years, the upshot is that it’s almost inconceivable that Beijing won’t use visitor numbers to lean on Taiwan—the Chinese agenda precludes that—and Mr Govertsen says you don’t need to look very hard to see these kinds of forces at work. “We’ve had instances in Macau over the last couple of years where Beijing decides, perhaps after somebody ticked someone off, that they would teach somebody a lesson by imposing restrictions”, he explains. “And I think that will be even more likely in a political environment like Taiwan’s which is considered renegade.”

Beyond the political tête-à-tête between the two sides, Matsu is also a vital military outpost, which in its heyday was home to over 50,000 Taiwanese soldiers. Today, that number stands at a little more than 3,000,

Market Outlook

Small feeder—Matsu’s Beigan airport


but sitting on the shoulder of China’s east coast, there’s no denying Matsu’s strategic importance. Critically, according to Mr Fong, the archipelago’s military bearing affects the scale of any potential development. “Matsu is a very important strategic location so I don’t think they will develop very large scale properties,” he explained. “If there were a lot of investment, the political risk would be very high. If I were an investor I’d prefer to invest small scale because nobody knows what will happen in the future.” Add to that China’s inclination to push its citizens to gamble in Macau rather than Taiwan, and Matsu seems destined to fall or prosper according to the whims of Beijing.

China’s influence won’t be limited to controlling visitor numbers either. Assuming the Taiwanese government legalizes gaming and opens the bidding process for Matsu, Beijing will dictate how truly open that process is. “The operators who know the market best are already based in Macau”, explains Mr Govertsen. “But they’ve got to tread very lightly in Taiwan lest they anger someone in Beijing who could then make their life very difficult in Macau.” Essentially, if Beijing doesn’t want Macau-based operators expanding to Taiwan, they will pressure them to abstain from the bidding process.

Such a scenario would open up the field to casino operators lacking representation in Macau. Mr Govertsen suggests companies such as Genting and Caesars would form an orderly queue behind Weidner Resorts, and the nature of the bidding process could prove decisive. “If the legislature says the government of Matsu gets to make the

Matsu Islands

unlikely that Matsu will ever present a more attractive destination for Taiwanese high-rollers than Macau does.

Where Matsu is likely to make a difference, however, is informally: namely to the perception of gaming in Asia. “Let’s assume it comes to fruition and the Chinese are allowed to gamble there”, says Mr Govertsen. “It would be another notch in the Asian gaming belt that just shows how big the pie really is. It will emphasize how lightly penetrated the Chinese/Asian market is, and it could—quite frankly—put pressure at the margins in places like Japan to join the industry sooner rather than later.”

Matsu has a strong chance of welcoming Taiwan’s first casino in the next five plus years (and if not, somewhere else in Taiwan will). The island chain lies in a tricky position economically, geographically and politically. Even if the Taiwan government and the eventual bid-winner manage to overcome the localized problems, the success of any integrated resort development on Matsu will ultimately depend on Beijing. That, in turn, will be influenced by China’s evolving relationship with Taiwan.

decision then that might very well help Weidner, given the leg work the company’s already put in,” he said. “If, on the other hand, the process is run out of Taipei then it would be more of an open race. But as I said, in that case you could also end up in a position where none of the six Macau guys feel welcome, based on pressure that might be put on them by Beijing. That would obviously be great for Weidner.”

Small Bite Out of the PieWhichever company wins, Matsu’s

direct impact on regional competitors is likely to be small. The archipelago will have one or two resorts tied to Fujian visitors with Weidner Resorts predicting annual gaming revenues of NT$10 billion (US$330 million) from its proposed casino. Macau will barely feel the arrival of gaming on Matsu (and certainly not for another five years) because gamers from Fujian constitute only 2% and 5% of Individual Visit Scheme and group visitors from China to Macau, respectively. Also, only 7.6% of visitors to Macau came from Taiwan in the second quarter of this year, and it’s

Tranquillity-rich, infrastructure-poor—Matsu’s picturesque east coast

Market Outlook


In Focus

As Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson reminded us ahead of the April opening of the

US$4.4 billion Sands Cotai Central complex: “There were few believers in my vision for the Cotai Strip when the site was basically under water. With the completion of Sands Cotai Central, that same spot will be home to thousands of hotel rooms, millions of square feet of retail, meeting and convention space, dozens of restaurants and so many other attractions.”

Cotai was created by reclaiming land from the sea between Taipa and Coloane islands, adding a much needed 5.6 square kilometers to Macau’s land area, bringing the total to 29.9 sq. km. Most of Macau sits on reclaimed land—in 1912, its land area was a mere 12.7 sq. km.

Macau’s other casino operators had previously largely shunned Cotai in favor of the traditional gaming hub on the crowded Macau Peninsula, home to casino properties

offering the essentials of a gaming trip—tables, slots, hotel rooms, restaurants, bars, spas and sometimes a smattering of high-end boutiques—but not much else. Now, however, they are all clamoring to either secure or expand their presence on Cotai, where the action is inexorably shifting.

Unlike the Peninsula, Cotai offers sufficient space to develop sprawling resorts equipped with world-class non-gaming amenities. Those amenities don’t come cheap though, especially with operators vying to outdo each other in the wow factor stakes, and customers consequently becoming more demanding. Gone are the days when a Macau casino could pay for itself in under a year—LVS’ first local property, Sands Macao, which famously did that, only cost US$265 million to build and was essentially a glitzy box containing gaming tables, slots, high ceilings and a few high-roller suites. Still, if you are investing in a big resort, Macau continues to offer some of the best returns

Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson have legitimate grounds for their aversion to getting involved in the Philippines. But Kazuo Okada has potentially much more to gain from

pursuing a venture in the Philippines than either of those men, and that is a shot at vying for the right to independently develop a casino property in Japan.

Metro Manila

Different VisionsWhat makes Asia’s most bullish casino resort developer loath to enter the Philippines?

“There were few believersin my vision for the Cotai Strip when the site was basically under water.”

Sheldon Adelson


in the world. The US$229.2 million adjusted property EBITDA [earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization] recorded at the US$2.4 billion Venetian Macao in the second quarter of this year far exceeds LVS’ expected 20% return on its projects.

Supply-Creates-Demand ThesisMr Adelson believes passionately that

demand among Mainland Chinese for his product in Macau is insatiable, and as such, he desires to own and control as much of Cotai as possible. After unveiling the Venetian Macao as the Strip’s anchor property in August 2007, Mr Adelson kicked off an aggressive Cotai development plan (while simultaneously also building the world’s most expensive standalone integrated resort, Marina Bay Sands, in Singapore). Unfortunately, this left LVS over-leveraged and debt ridden as the 2008 financial crisis hit, bringing it to the brink of bankruptcy. The company’s woes were compounded by Beijing’s tightening of visa rules on Mainland Chinese wishing to visit Macau, which drove a decline in gaming revenues from September 2008 to the first half of 2009, ending an unbroken five-year run of spectacular growth.

LVS was forced to suspend its Cotai development, but managed to ride out the storm, as Mr Adelson extended a US$475 million personal loan to the company. Beijing

eased up on the visas again, the company raised US$2.5 billion by listing it’s Macau operating subsidiary, Sands China Ltd, on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange at the end of 2009, the US$5.7 billion Marina Bay Sands was completed in April 2010 and became perhaps the most profitable casino property in the world, and LVS secured financing for and resumed construction on Cotai Plots 5 and 6 (Sands Cotai Central) in May 2010.

The wisdom of Mr Adelson’s bullish development strategy on Cotai has been called into question by the early performance at Sands Cotai Central, which arrives at a time when VIP gaming revenue growth is slowing, and has been accused of cannibalizing Sands China’s other Macau properties. Since the opening of Sands Macao in May 2004, every major new casino opening in the city has coincided with a spike in overall visitor numbers and gaming revenue, suggesting an unbroken trend of new properties growing the overall revenue pie, rather than cannibalizing existing venues. SCC may have ended that streak.

Still, it is too early to pass judgment on SCC. The second phase is scheduled to be unveiled in October, and the new amenities therein could well boost its appeal. Furthermore, given the lull in new property openings until mid-2015 or later (ahead of the second wave of Cotai resorts—Galaxy

Phase Two, Wynn Macau, and whichever other projects get approved), SCC might provide much-needed capacity in the interim—both in terms of gaming and entertainment, as well as the inventory of 5,800 hotel rooms and suites it should have in place by early 2013. The mass market continues growing strongly in terms of visitor numbers and revenue, and some of that traffic will naturally head to SCC. Meanwhile, the VIP trade could well pick up as junkets and casinos increase their efforts to recruit new high-end players from both the major cities and inner reaches of Mainland China.

Sands China has been much more aggressive than any other Macau casino operator in developing non-gaming amenities. As SCC hits its stride following the phase two opening, it could emerge as “a game-changer for MICE in Macau,” says LVS President and COO Michael Leven. The combined room count and MICE [meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions] facilities of SCC, Venetian Macao and Four Seasons could help bring meaningful numbers of high-value business tourists to the city.

Before Sheldon Adelson became a casino magnate, he was known as the “Convention King” in recognition of his prowess in developing that industry in Las Vegas. Mr Adelson’s reputation in the field of conventions is believed to have been a deciding factor in the Macau government awarding him a casino license (while Steve Wynn secured his license thanks to his reputation for developing extravagant resort entertainment). The first step towards delivering on the convention promise was providing 100,000 square meters of MICE space at Venetian Macao. SCC clearly continues the mission.

It is unclear when demand for non-gaming businesses in Macau will become significant, with retail showing the most potential. What is clear is that Sands China stands to benefit the most from an uptick in non-gaming demand, by virtue of having the most capacity in place to serve it.

What is also clear is competition is eroding margins in Macau, and SCC’s return on investment will pale beside that of Venetian Macao and Marina Bay Sands. The latter recorded adjusted property EBITDA of US$330.2 million in Q2 this year—although that figure was negatively impacted by a significantly lower than expected rolling chip Still ramping up—Sands Cotai Central

In Focus


win percentage of 2.42% in the quarter. In Q1, MBS had scored a whopping $472.5 million in adjusted property EBITDA—outstripping the $456.4 million adjusted property EBITDA recorded over all of LVS’ Macau properties in the same period. By comparison, the first phase of SCC, which began operations on 11th April, was open for 81 days during the second quarter, and generated $51.8 million adjusted property EBITDA in that time.

Scoring a Singapore casino license was a coup for LVS. Many feared the Singapore market would be unable to generate sufficient returns to justify the high level of investment needed to develop one of the city’s two integrated resorts. LVS paid almost US$1 billion just for the land on which MBS sits, and the resort had to be of a grand scale by necessity to accommodate a decent-sized casino, owing to the requirement that gaming spaces occupy no more than 5% of the resorts’ total floor area.

LVS was looking to achieve a 20% return on MBS, but has done much better. Spurred by his success in Macau and Singapore, and driven by his bullish temperament, Sheldon Adelson is keen to expand elsewhere in Asia. He has been lobbying in Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and Taiwan for the right to build integrated resorts in those countries. He has also expressed his desire to establish a presence in India, and outside Asia is currently working on EuroVegas, a US$20 billion integrated resort project in Spain.

Odd One OutThe one notable country not to make it

onto Mr Adelson’s development wish list is the Philippines, where four integrated resorts are being developed by separate consortia on 1 sq. km of prime reclaimed land at Manila Bay. Sands China President and CEO Edward Tracy was recently quoted by the Macau Daily Times as saying his company has “no intention of investing in a project in Manila.” The paper added that according to official sources, Manila Bay “does not fit the company investment profile.” Apparently, not all reclaimed land is created equal.

Steve Wynn is similarly unwilling to get involved in the Philippines. Mr Wynn, of course, is currently in the midst of a bitter legal dispute with his longtime friend and business partner Kazuo Okada, with whom he had a falling out over Mr Okada’s decision to develop a casino resort in that country.

Mr Okada and Mr Wynn had traveled to the Philippines together in 2010 to explore

the possibility of making an investment there, but Mr Wynn decided against it. Apparently, Mr Wynn and his board—mindful of the company’s status as a Nevada gaming licence holder and a Macau gaming licence holder—wanted to avoid the Philippines because of its international reputation for corruption.

Mr Okada decided to disregard objections from the Wynn Resorts board and go it alone in the Philippines, resulting in him first being removed as the board’s vice chairman, and then ultimately having his US$2.77 billion stake in the company forcibly redeemed at a steep discount of $1.9 billion, payable in 10 years. Mr Okada is currently suing for that forced redemption to be reversed.

Mr Okada first invested in the company that would become Wynn Resorts in 2000. He now clearly has a vision for Manila Bay. He recently told the Philippines media through an interpreter: “My dream is to create the best casino in the world here in the Philippines.” But was it worth his estrangement from Mr Wynn in both commercial and personal terms? After all, Mr Wynn had proclaimed in 2008: “I love Kazuo Okada as much as any man that I’ve ever met in my life. He’s my partner and my friend. And there is hardly anything that I won’t do for him.”

The Manila Bay development, known as Entertainment City, occupies the southeastern portion of the bay in Parañaque City. Entertainment City was first envisioned almost a decade ago by Efraim C. Genuino, former chairman of the country’s gaming regulator-cum-operator, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR). The vision to develop a multi-billion dollar entertainment center on the site was held back for years as PAGCOR struggled to find interested

international investors. Entertainment City is now finally taking shape, with Mr Okada’s Universal Entertainment Corp., through local subsidiary Tiger Resorts, Leisure and Entertainment Inc., behind the biggest of the four projects being developed at the site.

Mr Okada broke ground on the US$2 billion project on 26th January. The resort is scheduled for completion in late 2014 and will include three hotels, a convention hall, a glass-domed man-made beach, and villas on a 111-acre complex. On 16th July, Empire East Land Holdings Inc., a unit of Philippines property developer Megaworld Corp., announced it had signed a joint venture deal with Tiger Resorts to build a US$1.1 billion residential development, comprising 25 towers in several phases, on a 32-acre site within Tiger’s complex.

Megaworld is owned by local tycoon Andrew Tan, who now has a presence at two Manila Bay projects. Earlier, Megaworld parent company Alliance Global Group Inc. partnered with Genting Hong Kong—a subsidiary of Malaysia’s Genting Group—to develop Resorts World Manila next to the city’s airport. The joint venture between Alliance and Genting, known as Travellers International Hotel Group, has also secured the rights to develop a project in Manila Bay, dubbed Resorts World Bayshore, which is still in the planning stage.

Two other developments are scheduled to open in Manila Bay next year. The first is Belle Corp.’s US$1 billion Belle Grande Manila Bay, controlled by the Philippines’ richest man, Henry Sy. Belle Corp on 5th July entered into a memorandum of understanding with Macau casino operator Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd to form a new consortium that would own and operate Belle Grande. According to a statement from Melco Crown, its “total investment over the course of the

Stellar returns—Marina Bay Sands

In Focus


project is expected to be no more than $580 million, contributed by a combination of cash, cash flow and debt financing.” Belle Grand Manila Bay is expected to have 880 hotel rooms, 350 table games and 1,900 slots and will open in the second half of 2013.

Also expected to open next year is the US$1.2 billion Solaire, developed by Bloomberry Resorts Corp., which is owned by yet another Filipino tycoon—port operator Enrique Razon. Bloomberry has contracted Global Gaming Asset Management, run by former senior Las Vegas Sands Corp. executives Bill Weidner and Brad Stone, to manage the casino operation at Solaire.

Manila Sentiment BoosterIt’s clear much of the positive sentiment

on Entertainment City’s outlook is based on the strong performance at Resorts World Manila following its August 2009 opening. In 2011, RWM generated US$659 million in net revenue (accounting for over 40% of the Philippines market) and $214 million in EBITDA, which Union Gaming’s Grant Goversten calculates works out to a nearly 40% return on investment.

Most of the action at RWM is generated by locals, and the property has naturally prospered by offering superior service and surroundings to PAGCOR’s sites. Even the bullish analysts agree the majority of RWM’s business derives from locals (though they also point to significant though unquantified business from Koreans, Japanese and Chinese), noting the new IRs could significantly grow the overall market by drawing more international gamblers.

There are legitimate concerns, however, that the Philippines may not be able to attract sufficient international volume to support four major new integrated resorts. Mr Goversten offers four compelling factors in support of that view: • “Location: Manila is a 2.5 hour flight

from Guangdong and a 3.5 hour flight from Singapore. Prospective gamblers from China and Southeast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia) would

have to bypass the casinos in their own backyards, which also happen to have superior product relative to the planned Philippines IRs (as measured by invested capital).

• “Perception is reality: Manila has a reputation as being unsafe, unclean, and impoverished. While this might represent an unfair generalization of the area, we think it could be enough to dissuade customers, especially those from countries like Japan, South Korea and Singapore, from making a purpose-based trip to a Manila IR.

• “Language barrier: outside of the IRs, Chinese is generally not spoken, nor is signage in Chinese. We believe this could dissuade Chinese patronage, which we believe is the demographic that most of the new IRs believe will be their primary customer.

• “Government hostilities: there is an on-going rift between the governments of China and the Philippines over disputed ownership of an island in the South China Sea. In May 2012, many Chinese travel agencies temporarily suspended the operation of package tours to the Philippines as the dispute heated up. This being said, China was the #4 inbound source of visitation to the Philippines in 2011 with 243k visitors, having grown 30% from 2010. In Singapore, 1.4mm Chinese visited in 2011, or almost 6x the

amount to the Philippines.On a positive note, however, Mr

Goversten notes the Manila IRs should be able to offer higher commission rates given that the local gaming tax rate is favorable relative to Macau (15% vs. 39%), but is a bit higher than in Singapore (~12%).

Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson have legitimate grounds for their aversion to getting involved in the Philippines. But Kazuo Okada has potentially much more to gain from pursuing a venture in Manila Bay than either of those men, and that is a shot at vying for the right to independently develop a casino property in Japan if and when that country legalizes casino gaming.

Messrs Wynn and Adelson have already cut their teeth developing internationally renowned casino resorts, while Mr Okada is better known for having provided financial backing to Mr Wynn’s efforts, as well as his involvement in Japan’s grey-area pachinko industry and most recently for supplying highly innovative electronic gaming machines. Although Mr Okada’s Manila Bay project offers uncertain returns, it is an opportunity to prove he is equally capable of building and operating an impressive IR.

PAGCOR is making grandiose claims that the Philippines could within a few years become the second biggest gaming hub in the region, after Macau, but Japan clearly stands a much better chance of one day clinching that title. One could question whether Mr Okada may have lost too much in his pursuit of a Manila Bay project by alienating Steve Wynn in the process, but if his ultimate goal is to secure a larger share of a potentially massive Japan casino market for himself, his vision could ultimately prove more profitable than even Mr Adelson’s on Cotai.

Another piece of reclaimed land—the stretch of Manila Bay slated for Pagcor City

Going it alone—Kazuo Okada

Dream project—rendering of Kazuo Okada’s US$2 billion Manila Bay project

In Focus


Gaming Partners International (GPI) has earned its position as the world’s leading provider of casino currency

by tirelessly innovating to stay ahead of ever-resourceful counterfeiters.

GPI supplies chips, plaques and jetons under the well-known brand names Bourgogne et Grasset (B&G), Paulson and Bud Jones. The first of those brands to be established was B&G, and its raison d’être was, unsurprisingly, beating the would-be cheats.

In the 1920s in Beaune, in the Burgundy region of France, lithographer Etienne Bourgogne and engineer Claudius Grasset were working to pioneer the use of plastics for use in items such as brooches, hair slides and plastic playing cards. The partners were the first to master the art of plastic film printing. One day in 1925, Mr Grasset read in the newspaper Le Figaro that a player had broken the bank at the Monte Carlo Casino to the tune of 600,000 Francs using counterfeit chips made of solid ivory and mother of pearl.

Bourgogne and Grasset saw an opportunity to use their plastics research and their technical skills to address the counterfeiting problem. The partners got to work on producing a new generation of chips that would offer casinos total security. They perfected an ingenious process by which the impression of the chip was protected by a thin plastic film, which made it practically impossible to imitate them.

The partners sent some samples to the general manager of the Monte Carlo casino, Monsieur Blanc, whose reply came in the form of a chip order, and Bourgogne et Grasset was born as a gaming supplier.

For almost nine decades since then, GPI has helped casinos secure their currency. It helps that B&G is among a handful of brands with plaques and jetons made of laminated acetates. “There are not a lot of manufacturers in the world who use acetates,” reveals GPI Global VP of R&D Emmanuel Gelinotte. “We use a process very similar to that used to make credit cards. However, while credit

cards are usually made of PVC, we use acetates. It’s actually very difficult to laminate acetate sheets, but back in 1923, Bourgogne et Grasset developed an intricate process to laminate acetate sheets that is a significant trade secret of our company. This process hasn’t changed much over the years, and is one of the reasons our plaques and jetons are so secure.”

At this year’s G2E Asia, held in May at the Venetian Macao, GPI showcased four new security features. The first is an innovative application of ultraviolet security protection the company calls UV-4C, which entails using a standard UV detector to reveal a unique full-color photo or image hidden in the chip decal.

“Regular UV has been around for years and years,” observes Mr Gelinotte. “And, because it’s used by so many industries

for so many applications, it’s not as strong a security feature—you can even buy UV pigment on the internet. So 4C-UV is really unique: it uses multiple UV inks in a very advanced four-color process way to produce pictures or intricate multi-color designs that can still be detected with a standard UV light. And, when it’s used on a gaming chip, a casino can have a series of multi-color logos, a unique photograph, or virtually any other multi- or four-color image that will be revealed when we shine the UV light on it, but will totally disappear when you switch off the light.”

“It’s a very new technology,” adds Mr Gelinotte. “You need specific software to do it, because you are working with invisible colors. Whereas with visible colors you know what to expect when you mix green with red, with invisible colors it’s a totally

GPI

Currency ProtectionEmmanuel Gelinotte, GPI’s global vice president of research and development,

describes the company’s latest counterfeiter-thwarting security features

“It’s like the bank note industry: there is no miracle security feature. A secure solution is a combination of security

features from different levels—Level 1 to Level 3—and of overt and covert features.”

Emmanuel Gelinotte


GPI

different story. So there is a very special software developed for that, and we have secured the exclusive rights to this cutting-edge technology within gaming.”

At G2E Asia, GPI also introduced its new holographic MicroDots—miniscule hologram particles that can be added to decal printing inks. Not only do MicroDots provide an “overt” security feature visible to the naked eye, they also offer a further “covert” Level 3 security feature that’s not visible and requires a magnification device for authentication. “You can see some metal particles here,” says Mr Gelinotte as he presents a chip with MicroDots embedded into the chip decal. “Seeing the metal particles tells you that they are there, and if you go to the next level of chip authentication you use a small microscope and you’ll see a real security hologram with a special code on it.”

MicroBeads are another brand new security feature, falling under the covert category. MicroBeads are added to chip decals and reveal a series of bright red beads, resembling “a starry night,” observes Mr Gelinotte. Using a proprietary device, MicroBead markings are easier to authenticate than micro-text, reducing the amount of time required to determine if a chip is real.

SecuriTagg offers one more covert Level 3 security feature, comprising a taggant that is revealed by a specialized hand-held tool. SecuriTagg also includes a unique identifier that can be forensically authenticated by a lab, providing an even higher level of authentication. “The taggant is a special chemical formulation based on different phosphors,” explains Mr Gelinotte.

GPI also took the occasion of G2E Asia to unveil two additions to its B&G currency

line. The new B&G J2 Jeton is a hybrid combining the aesthetic and security features of traditional European-style jetons with the easy handling of an American-style chip. Among the hybrid’s other benefits, the company states: “B&G J2 jetons are easier to stack and handle than traditional jeton shapes, making them a more appealing solution for high chip volume table games. They also enable the use of a wider range of decal design options as well as a broader range of security features.”

“4C-UV is really unique: it uses multiple UV inksin a very advanced four-color process way to produce pictures or intricate multi-color designs that can still be

detected with a standard UV light.”

Over and covert—MicroDots


Mr Gelinotte describes the thinking behind the hybrid jeton: “Our customers like jetons not just because they are visually appealing, but also because the materials like the gold laces or mother of pearls used to create them are also high security elements. But, jetons aren’t as easy to handle as American-style chips, which can be challenging for dealers and other staff. So we wanted to create a hybrid that combines the advantages of the jeton with the efficiencies of American-style chips. The B&G J2 Jeton is exactly the same profile and shape as an American-style chip with the same weight, but includes a label where we can have a hologram or any kind of security feature that is offered in our American-chip products.

“We also just released this year what we call B&G Premium Chips,” says Mr Gelinotte. According to the company, “B&G Premium Chips combine innovations in chip design, 3D injection mold design engineering and manufacturing with the industry’s largest selection of overt and covert security features to give casinos the ability to create completely custom chips. By incorporating a wide range of colors with up to six individual injections, casinos can create an intricate chip mold design that is both visually distinctive and unique as well as more counterfeit resistant.”

Mr Gelinotte adds: “The fact that we are doing unique molds is also better in terms of security because when you use chip molds from a menu it makes it easier for counterfeiters who could replicate that mold. With B&G Premium Chips, however, customers have their own unique set of

molds featuring their own intricate designs, which makes it much more expensive and challenging for potential counterfeiters.”

B&G Premium Chips offer other possibilities, points out Mr Gelinotte. “The good thing as well of doing the premium customized chips is that we can fully use the products for branding purposes. We can include a casino’s logo on the chip, promote the property, and really distinguish it from its competitors.”

At G2E Asia 2012, GPI also highlighted two enhancements to its RFID portfolio:• ChipInventorySystem2.0,whichuses

RFID technology to track the location and status of all enabled chips, helping operators increase inventory movement efficiency and security by tracking casino currency from the cage or vault to its authorized location

on the gaming floor. CIS 2.0 can also be integrated with casino and table management systems for reporting and transaction data, eliminating the need for manual data entry.

• RFID Total Money Management, whichcombines the efficiencies of RFID with a high-speed table bill validator designed by JCM, streamlining table game cash and chip transactions to enable an increase in rounds per hour while providing increased currency security through instant authentication and validation.GPI continues adopting the latest

technology and inventing some of its own in the race to stay ahead of counterfeiters, while also striving to enhance its products’ aesthetic appeal and value as marketing tools.

Mr Gelinotte sums up what constitutes a secure chip: “It’s like the bank note industry: there is no miracle security feature. A secure solution is a combination of security features from different levels—Level 1 to Level 3—and of overt and covert features. So, a good chip, a secure chip, has security features from all levels and a balance of overt and covert features. That’s exactly what monetary authorities are doing for banknotes: they combine a mix of generally inexpensive security features to have a more secure note. With our gaming currency we apply the same approach, and just like the banking industry, we are constantly adding new features that can be used to replace a security feature when it is compromised or becomes too widespread.”

Best of both chips—the B&G J2 Jeton

Completely customized— B&G Premium Chips

Streamlining table-side transactions—RFID Total Money Management

GPI


Jumbo

The latest version of Jumbo Technology’s Video Baccarat multi-terminal productallows players to pursue trends without having

to physically move between tables by enabling them to place bets onany one of three active tables from the comfort of their seat.

Serving DemandThe highlight product at Jumbo’s stand at this year’s G2E Asia

was its Long Dragon Baccarat mult-iterminal product. Also sharing the standwith Jumbo at this year’s show was GAMA Technology,

supplier of a cost-effective slot management system

The passion for baccarat in Asia is accompanied by an obsession for tracking the results of the games and

using them to spot trends. Live-table players often shuttle between tables in search of favorable trends.

The latest version of Jumbo Technology’s Long Dragon Baccarat multi-terminal product allows players to pursue trends without having to physically move between tables by enabling them to place bets on any one of eight active tables from

the comfort of their seat. “You can sit in one spot and play eight

different baccarat games without moving. That’s the convenience we try to provide players,” states Tim Liang, regional sales manager for the Taiwan-based electronic gaming machine manufacturer. “We have prominent displays indicating the long rows and when three banker or player results have been recorded in a row, the display is highlighted in yellow, when it’s four in a row it turns orange, and then red

for five in a row or more. This makes it easier for players to follow the trends.”

Jumbo’s Long Dragon Baccarat is already in operation in Macau, and the company believes it has potential to spread to further venues in Macau and around the region.

Sharing the stand with Jumbo at this year’s G2E Asia was GAMA Technology, which specializes in developing bespoke casino management systems.

GAMA sees its niche as providing a


Jumbo

more cost-effective solution than the larger systems suppliers. “Our system offers all the key functions you need but not the extraneous functions that are not so essential, which are offered by some of the bigger and more expensive systems providers,” says GAMA Managing Director Dale Miao.

Although GAMA was formally set up in 2010, the development effort had begun a couple of years before that. Earlier this year, GAMA’s system received Gaming Laboratories International certification GLI-13, GLI-16 and GLI-17.

The GAMA system has been installed in gaming venues in Laos and the Philippines. Later this month ,GLI Peru is also expected to grant the system certification in that country,

and the company is eyeing Mexico, as well as Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines as part of its expansion efforts.

GAMA’s services cover wide-area link management and Internet protocol-based networked jackpots and member data systems that can be shared across multiple locations. The company is also developing a system for tables.

GAMA says one of its specialties is integration of all cashier functions—including hand-pay, ticket-in-ticket-out

and cashless transactions—via a single workstation. GAMA also offers promotion management in its suite of services, covering reward points, loyalty credits and lottery points. GAMA can also provide blacklist notification on undesirable clients.

Mr Miao points out that the GAMA system is constantly getting better. “Every day we are making improvements since we are a lot more flexible and willing to try to make the system better and more user-friendly.”

Jumbo Technology Regional Sales Manager Tim Liang

Trend spotting—Long Dragon Baccarat

GAMA Technology Managing Director Dale Miao

Jumbo displayed several new slot games—largely featuring Chinese-based themes such as dragons and phoenixes—at its G2E Asia stand


Feature

The casinos at the Thai-Cambodia border have long been marginal operations. They are generally quite small and

dingy, in poorly decorated and maintained buildings. Some sit in dusty no-man’s lands between the two countries—areas best known for duty-free dealings and itinerant workers. The legal underpinnings of the casinos are not always clear, and there’s a sense that some of the operations may not be totally aboveboard.

But now there’s an outfit seeking to change that perception. Entertainment Gaming Asia (EGT)—a Nevada-incorporated, Hong Kong-managed, New York Stock

Dreamworld is more along the lines of a casino in a developed gaming market, with a large, open floor, professional-looking staff and well-maintained machines.

Category KillerAs Indochina correspondent Rich Meyer reports, Entertainment Gaming Asia looks set

to raise the bar for border casinos with its recently opened Dreamworld Pailin

Betting on quality—Dreamworld Pailin


Feature

Exchange -listed company—has just opened a casino at Pailin, Cambodia, just across from a Thai checkpoint. EGT is out to set a new standard for the Asian border casino.

EGT’s Dreamworld Pailin opened in May. According to Clarence Chung, EGT’s chairman and chief executive officer, the operation currently has 26 tables and 50 electronic gaming machines. There are also two VIP rooms, with a total of four tables.

Grant Govertsen, an analyst at Union Gaming Research in Macau, visited Dreamworld Pailin and some of its local competitors and came away impressed. He said that the EGT casino is in a different league altogether from the nearby operations, most of which are dreary establishments with tattered carpets, low ceilings and few if any amenities. Dreamworld is more along the lines of a casino in a developed gaming market, with a large, open floor, professional-looking staff and well-maintained machines. While Mr Govertsen is not formally covering the company, he did issue an initial report with his observations. In the report, he describes Dreamworld as a “category killer,” overshadowing all the other border casinos in terms of quality and potential.

Quality construction comes reasonably cheap in Cambodia, with Dreamworld Pailin costing US$2.5 million to build. EGT pays a monthly rental of $5,000 for the property

and keeps 80% of the operating profit, distributing the rest to its local partner. Mr Govertsen is optimistic about Dreamworld. He believes it sits in a great location, adding that despite the generally low-grade atmosphere of the neighborhood and the lack of upkeep at some of the other casinos in Pailin, they all seemed to be experiencing brisk traffic when he visited.

“During the time I was there—mid-day, mid-week—it was all but impossible to get on a table at any casino in the market. Such a high occupancy suggests that the market is likely under-supplied,” noted Mr Goversten.

EGT has plans for two more border casinos in Cambodia on the drawing board. The company is scheduled to open a casino in Poipet, a town north of Pailin, by the end of 2012. Poipet is the main land crossing between Cambodia and Thailand and is much better known than Pailin. Pailin is four hours by road from Bangkok, a city of 7 million people, while Poipet has better connections and can be reached in two hours from Bangkok. The Dreamworld in Poipet will be a US$7.5 million slots-only project. In this case, the landlord/partner will take 60% and EGT 40% of operating profit.

Also in the works is a casino at Kampot, near the Vietnam border. That project will look to draw customers from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s most populous city, which

is less than five hours away by road. It has a construction budget of US$1.2 million, will include 25 tables and 40 machines, and should be up and running in 2013.

EGT’s strategy is very similar to NagaWorld’s, only it is getting quite a bit closer to the target markets of Thailand and Vietnam—the former prohibits casinos, while the latter restricts entry to foreigners. Proximity appears to be especially important when it comes to luring Thais. While NagaWorld’s efforts to market itself to players from Ho Chi Minh City are working well—it has dedicated coaches plying the route between the Vietnamese city and Phnom Penh—Thailand has proved more a challenge. The roads are not as good, the border crossing is less efficient and the distances are greater. EGT has stepped nicely into the breech by offering a service to Thais who may not want to travel so far by car or get on a plane.

The Cambodia casino market is thus developing in a bit of a hub-and-spoke manner. NagaWorld is at the center, the undisputed leader with critical mass and a highly sophisticated VIP program. And it is surrounded by smaller operations that take up the intermediate traffic. The markets are largely the same; it’s the scale and location that are different.

EGT got its start as a lessor of electronic gaming equipment. It is also a maker and seller of high-frequency RFID and traditional non-RFID gaming chips through its Dolphin

EGT Chairman and CEO Clarence Chung

Well-appointed—DreamWorld Pailin contains two VIP rooms with a total of four tables


Products subsidiary. As of March 2012, the company had 1,560 electronic gaming machines (EGM) in operation—799 in Cambodia and 761 in the Philippines. It has 670 EGMs at NagaWorld, where EGT gets 25% of the win per unit per day. It also has a contract for 250 machines at the Thansur Bokor Resort and Casino in the Bokor Mountains, Cambodia, where EGT will get 27% of the win per unit per day. At the end of 2011, 64% of the company’s consolidated revenues were from the EGM business.

By opening its own casinos in Cambodia, EGT not only retains a higher proportion of the revenue generated by its activities in the country, but it also insulates itself from the possibility of being dis-intermediated from its customers. The contract with NagaWorld is up in 2016, and it’s not clear whether that very big piece of business will be renewed, and at what rate. At the end of 2011, the EGMs at NagaWorld were 51%

of the company’s consolidated revenues, according to the 2011 annual report.

“As of today, it’s a material part of EGT’s earnings, and its loss would result in a significant decline in cash flow—were it not to be replaced by other sources,” points out Mr Govertsen. “As such, given the risk of contract termination in 2016, the company needs to replace these earnings, which is why we’re seeing the company open a series of casinos throughout Cambodia. I suspect that these casinos should replace the potential lost cash flow in its entirety.”

There are other concerns surrounding EGT. Unlike NagaWorld, the company does not seem to have an iron-clad, well-defined gaming license from the government. In the 2011 annual report, there is a discussion of approvals needed, but it is not altogether clear under what authority the various Dreamworlds will operate and, more to the point, the duration and conditions of the

licensing. The same goes for taxes. Very few details are offered in public disclosures, and the company will only say that it is paying a low fixed amount that is negotiated every year with the government.

These areas are very important and represent some of the biggest assets, and biggest potential risks, for any operator. NagaWorld’s casino license—with a set duration and a monopoly period—and its preferential tax rate (reported precisely in dollar amounts by management) are of great value to the company and very attractive to investors. Conversely, the expiry of the current preferential tax arrangement in 2018 is the biggest question mark faced by the company.

With EGT, there are fewer hard numbers or timetables available, and this leaves quite a bit open to speculation and could raise doubts about the sustainability of the company’s high returns.

By opening its own casinos in Cambodia, EGT not only retains a higher proportionof the revenue generated by its activities in the country,

but it also insulates itself from the possibility of being dis-intermediated from its customers.

Feature


Cole Kepro, a global leader in the design and manufacture of gaming cabinets, is focused on growing its presence on East Asia’s casino floors with an aggressive strategy aimed

at leveraging the company’s core strengths in product innovation via a faster, more efficient pipeline for getting those innovations to market.

As CEO Frederick Cook Jr. puts it, “We’re looking past being a small cabinet shop in Las Vegas to being a global player.”

Unlike its turn-key approach to cabinet design, this is a plan that involves a lot of moving parts: it takes in reducing cycle times, building in efficiencies at each stage of the manufacturing process, deepening the company’s understanding of its core competencies and building on the strengths of its partners in technology.

Thanks to design processes that emphasize what Mr Cook calls a “commonality of components”—standardization, in essence—like a new generic wiring harness and the introduction of generic fabrication techniques that allow parts to be easily snapped in and out—together with the introduction of round-the-clock shifts at Cole Kepro’s 134,000-square-foot factory in North Las Vegas—average time to market has been reduced from 16 weeks to four.

“We’re really looking to balance our supply chain,” he says.Standardization has also resulted in designs that work off

a single CPU and power supply, that incorporate the same connections for games and peripherals, and support multiple software configurations—real value-adds for operators—not to mention boxes that are more durable, more wearable, with glass that doesn’t break or buttons that jar loose.

“It’s the attention to detail,” notes Cole Kepro President Glenn Wichinsky. “Everything well-grounded.”

At the heart of these innovations is the company’s new Fast Track technology, a CPU harness designed to interface the game board or CPU to a pre-wired cabinet. This new CPU box can then be used in other Fast Track cabinets or changed out for quick upgrades on the floor. It also means that slot techs will be familiar with all internal components, even among different models.

The bottom line for the operator: greater flexibility and reduced costs.

Fast Track is one of the optional highlights of Cole Kepro’s new 7700 Slant Top, which comes with either 22-inch or 26-inch widescreen LCDs, a variety of LED lighting choices, an elevating bill validator and integrated speaker ports. Available features include AC/DC power distribution box and a bold 3.1 Sound System with subwoofer.

For a lower profile (26 inches in total height) there’s the 2800 Drop-In Slant Top, similarly packed with features, like a “Pop Top” 26-inch widescreen main LCD and pop-up bill validator.

Cole Kepro

Thinking Inside the BoxCole Kepro continues to build on its reputation for industry-leading slot cabinet design

and the most advanced manufacturing techniques

Evolver Series uprights feature Fast-Track wiring for quick upgrades on the floor


The 2600, at a mere 17.5 inches in height, takes an even more compact approach without sacrificing versatility. It comes with a 20.1-inch 16:9 LCD, backlit deck glass, an exclusive “Flow Through” cabinet ventilation system and a Willex 2.1 Sound System with subwoofer.

Then there are the classic Evolver Series Uprights. These are led by the 2238 single and 2248 dual 22-inch LCDs—both with Fast-Track wiring and AC/DC power distribution box capabilities, a variety of LED lighting choices and optional 3.1 Sound System—and the 6800 Slim Line, 37 inches high, a svelte 20 inches in width and only 18 inches deep.

The Evolver Series also includes stand-alone and wall-mounted kiosks. The former comes with an advanced 19-inch touchscreen LCD, card and barcode readers and Fast Track capability. The latter features a 20.1-inch touchscreen LCD plus a card reader and LED side and back lights.

Every Cole Kepro cabinet can be customized further with a variety of top boxes. There’s a spacious “Chop Box” for accommodating glass, progressive meter or LCD display; a classic “Round Top”; a “Square Top” available in a variety of heights; a slender “Pizza Box,” ideal for player-tracking systems; and colored LED toppers and a 17-inch video topper available in an array of marquee patterns.

With a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant to put it all together—everything from basic metal frames to fully wired turn-key cabinets—Cole Kepro is truly a one-stop shop.

The Vegas plant employs SolidWorks 3D CAD software for mechanical design and a Fabrication Department equipped with two automated Amada EMLK combination laser punches, five Cincinnati press brakes and several spot welding and Pemsetting stations. An additional Amada Quatro laser is featured in a fully equipped model shop. So whether it’s a complete custom project or an upgrade or conversion kit you’re looking for, they have the tools and the experience for the job. They do full on-site refurbishments. They can also customize a complete wiring harness or power solution and put together a build-to-suit development and test station to match your product.

Importantly, pre-lab testing is available as well for proving out

a cabinet’s grounding stability, and heat testing is provided to help operators through the certification process.

Training and technical support are always available.

7700 Slant Top—versatile, option-rich

Log onto www.asgam.com for the latest industry intelligence and a subscription to our digital edition—all absolutely free

A Sure Bet

Cole Kepro


Aruze

Steve Walther, Aruze Gaming America’s vice president of marketing, says his company’s electronic gaming

machines seek to engage players on “new fun levels.” On the face of it, the eye-catching packages and interactive elements—such as the Bash Button on Lucky Sic Bo and Shoot to Win Craps, or the Reel Feel rod controller on Paradise Fishing—are what set Aruze’s products apart from those of its competitors, but the underlying math model of the games is equally important to their success, especially in Asian markets with a penchant for volatility.

Inside Asian Gaming Publisher Kareem Jalal caught up with Mr Walther for a video interview, excerpts of which can be viewed online at the IAG Web site, www.asgam.com. The full transcript of the interview follows.

Kareem Jalal: How is Asia going for you?

Steve Walther: Asia is a fantastic market for Aruze. Over the last few months we’ve really started to come on strong with some of the new property openings—Sands Cotai Central, last year with Galaxy Macau. We’ve happened to move ourselves to some very good floor share with the performance of our product. So we’ve been very thrilled with how it’s going here in Macau and the expansion of gaming throughout the rest of Southeast Asia, as well as the Philippines.

We’re very happy with how our product is performing, it’s resonating well with the market, and we’re happy to see it grow.

You mentioned the Philippines, which is expected to be one of the big growth markets in coming years. Aruze in particular is well-positioned to benefit from that expansion.

Yes. We have great products with very strong themes that resonate well with the people of the Philippines as well as other areas in Asia and around the world. We are starting to do very well in the United States—equally as well as we have done in Asia. We’re also doing well in Australia and South Africa.

The bottom line in the Philippines is we’ve built product that we know will work with those types of gamblers in their environment and we’re really excited to see not only our product performing in the existing venues that are there, but as gaming expands with some of the integrated resorts that are opening up down there, then we can see our product getting even further out there.

Behind the performance of your products is the tremendous amount of resources you’ve devoted to research and development. Can you tell us a bit about that effort?

We have development centers in Tokyo, Japan, we have development centers in Manila, we have a development center in Sydney, Australia, as well as in North America. So we’ve built development teams around the world to capture the essences of players that are global in nature. So what we do is we spend a lot of time developing the products, looking at the market, listening to players, and we build our products with the players in mind.

We’ve designed our products to engage players. We want players to feel the game. With our Paradise Fishing you saw that with the ‘Reel Feel’ rod controller. You saw that with our first Innovator Steppers with Radiant Reel technology. Even with some of the new games you can touch the machine to get a little bit of excitement. We’re truly engaging the players on new levels and new fun levels. As we build and design all around the world for games that are fun, players are

Defining FunAttention-grabbing packaging and interactivity are the immediately

apparent distinguishing features of Aruze’s games. Just as important to the games’ sustained success in Asia, however, are strong math models

Standing out on the floor—Aruze’s Lucky Big Wheel

Steve Walther

http://www.asgam.com/


Hands-on experience—Franken Mama

What are some of the standout games you’ve released recently?

There’s The Gold and Crystal. People in the Asia market will recognize our G-Deluxe product in such games as Beauty and the Beast, Oiran, Top of Japanese Geisha, Chinese Queen, and now Franken Mama, which is our latest G-Deluxe innovation, which is a fun little twist on the classical monsters of old where Mama Frankenstein wants to have dinner and is busy collecting all the different

Aruze

responding and we are seeing that now with the placements that we have.

Asia has traditionally been known as a hardcore gambling destination, where it’s all about the math and volatility, but people are certainly responding to these fun games.

Absolutely. And it’s a balance. You’ve got people that want very strong volatile games. A number of our games have the fun elements built into them but also have that volatility, also have that excitement and that engagement in them in the math model, equal to the engagement in the play mechanic. So there are various different games. Our King of Dragons stepper has a very strong volatility to it and it’s really grabbing the players with the entertainment. We’ll be seeing games like The Gold and Crystal that have equally strong volatility but also a nice presentation package. So we attract the players with the package, but really we’ve followed it up with some fantastic math to keep them engaged.

One of the selling points to casinos of your products is that they attract probably a new breed of player to slots—players who otherwise aren’t so interested in slots. Your games draw them in by being so eye-catching.

Yes, but it’s not only that. We have our

games which are mechanical in nature, so they are traditionally steppers. We don’t call them steppers, we call them Innovators because they are an innovative match or a fusion of technology from mechanical steppers to video presentation. So we are getting a crossover effect with people that normally play traditional video and people that normally play traditional slots, but now are having a good combined experience between the two platforms.

Combining steppers and video—Crystal

Radiant Reels and a volatile math model—Aruze’s The Gold


characters. It’s a really interactive experience, like our typical G-Deluxe games, where you rub, you touch, you pick and you go from there. And that you can see on casino floors in Macau now as well.

Which of your products have been doing particularly well for you over the past year?

Some of the products that have been doing quite fantastic have been in our multi-station platform—our Shoot to Win Craps, our Lucky Sic Bo platform, and now our latest game is the Lucky Big Wheel, and you are seeing those here throughout the casinos in Macau. They’ve got very strong performance and the demand for those products is great.

Our stepper products, with King of Dragons and Bamboo Panda and 4 Chinese Beasts, have really started to gather notice here in the Asian region.

And overall our video products with Artic Sun, with the new Fortune Festival link, are also really starting to get some attention.

We’ve built a product base that’s very diverse in nature and we’re pleased that the majority of our products that we’re releasing are coming back with significant performance. It just makes it that much easier for us to sell them.

What do you have in the pipeline?In the pipeline coming now we have

some concept games. We have a game called The Rich Life, which will be the first competitive versus game, where the decisions that you make affect the outcome of the player next to you. So you can either both win, both lose, one win, one lose, or each win different amounts. So it’s a very exciting new link product, lots of interaction, less on the spinning wheel, more on a game style of play. It’s a great package with the 60-inch LCD on top, where you and the player next to you have a bit of a competition as to who’s going to get the bigger prize.

It’s a bit of an experimental concept. The amount of time that people are spending in the bonus and in the game is a significant amount of time. There are over 40 games, different mini-games that are built within it, and we think that’s going to really grip the player because they want to experience all the games, they want to have the good play top to bottom and as your character grows through The Rich Life, they age, so when you reach your destination of retirement you can

spin the wheel to become a “millionaire,” so to speak; in credit value, not in real dollar value—yet. That’s fun.

Aruze is a real innovator in this space. Are you being imitated?

Imitation is the best form of flattery. I’ve seen some products that come close with the imitation in some of the areas. I think we all have a limited set of concepts that prove well. So it’s how we take those concepts and add that additional layer, that additional flair. People have had spinning wheels, people have had multiplying wilds, people have had reels that become more wilds. It’s how you present it, how you grip the players and how you engage them. So if somebody goes out and duplicates some of our concepts, good, fine. We‘ve got some of the original concepts to it but our math behind it is proven and good and that may just be a copy that might last for only a short time. And if they do a good job, then good for them, we’ll just beat them in another concept.Give it a bash—Lucky Sic Bo

Experimental concept---The Rich Life is the first competitive versus game, where one player’s decisions affect the outcome of another

Aruze


G&D

G2E Asia presented Gieseke & Devrient with a prime opportunity to showcase their reputation as a

global leader in banknote production and processing technologies.

The star of the Munich-based company’s exhibit this year: the state-of-the-art BPS C4.

Developed specifically for the largest handlers of paper money—commercial and central banks, cash-in-transit companies and, of course, casinos—the C4 allows a single user to carry out banknote recognition, evaluation, counting and sorting, all in one step, providing a significant boost both to workflow efficiency and speed. It is capable of through-putting up to 40,000 banknotes an hour, with only one pass required for the various sorting procedures, which means notes can be fed into it continuously without any problems. The system features up to 20 delivery compartments with variable configurations that allow a maximum number of processing jobs to be run in parallel at speeds up to 12 banknotes per second. And it can handle a wide range of materials—paper or polymer, including casino tickets, whether brand new or soiled or damaged.

It also sports a new space-saving design with a more compact layout of singlers and reject and sorting compartments, a touch screen that places complete control at the operator’s fingertips and a height-adjustable table for extra comfort.

Flexibility is another of the C4’s assets. Modular and scalable, it can adapt to any processing requirements and can support different processing modes, including the particularly efficient header-card-processing and rapid-deposit-processing variants. Additional flexibility is available with its large delivery modules, which can process up to 500 banknotes—a real advantage when filling ATM cash boxes or collecting and sorting unusual denominations.

Security standards are industry-leading. Not surprising, given G&D’s 160 years in the field, its presence in more than 30 countries and its extensive involvement in solutions for the public sector, which include ID cards, personalization and border-control systems, travel documents and cards and systems for electronic health-care applications, for personal identification and authentication and for secure electronic transactions online With C4, all basic functions, denomination identification and authentication and the like, are covered by a sensor block. Depending on requirements, additional sensors can be added: for example, a dirt/stain sensor for quality sorting or a dollar sensor for the secure identification of US banknotes. All scanning is two-sided and covers the full surface of the note. A separate fail-safe compartment guarantees simple jam recovery with correct accounting.

The C4 also integrates easily into existing management systems via a LAN interface, providing an additional boost to efficiency and transparency in the cash center. It is language-configurable, as well, and comes with a range of customizable options and accessories: like a single adaptation for almost 100 currencies and other adaptations for processing up to five currencies on the same machine; a barcode reader; an external printer, mouse and keyboard; additional sensor add-ons; external solutions for destroying banknotes and invalidating banknote bundles; and closed-circuit television for displaying count data.

G&D continually adapts its systems to meet changing market demands, legal stipulations

and security requirements, whether it’s with a compact desktop processor or a 20-stacker high-performance system. Gaming-specific solutions include high-security systems for automated cash processing that perform counting and sorting, authentication and the flexible processing of different currencies. This year they’ve added an advanced desktop system called the BPS C1, an extremely precise and flexible two-stacker solution featuring a sorting tray and a reject compartment, front-facing controls and opening mechanism to simplify handling and significantly reduce the machine’s footprint, and a counting speed of up to 1,500 notes per minute. The C1’s sensors verify the authenticity and denomination of banknotes and sort them into different stacks based on their denomination, series and orientation. Counterfeit and unusable banknotes are automatically directed to the reject compartment. If required, the unit can be equipped to read serial numbers on banknotes and barcodes on casino tickets. As a further option, banknotes can be sorted into three classes depending on the condition they’re in: those suitable for automated teller machines, those fit for circulation and those no longer in circulating condition.

The C1 can process up to 10 different currencies. It is configurable to meet different needs, and supports G&D’s cash-management software. The fact that two people can use it in parallel makes it even more cost-effective.

“It is the perfect solution for professional users who require a machine that takes up a minimum of space, and the ideal product for integration in local and regional cash management scenarios,” says Ralf Wintergerst, group senior vice president and head of the company’s Banknote Processing Division.

Its small footprint and convenient front access make the C1 the ideal choice for any location. BPS C4

BPS C1

Making It CountThe latest in high-volume cash-handling solutions—it’s what

Gieseke & Devrient does best


Briefs

Regional Briefs of about US$2 billion.In a document made public last month, state-owned Nash Dom

Primorye, the developer, invited companies to bid on the project, promising favourable lease terms and effectively zero taxes on gross gambling revenues in exchange for creating jobs and developing the area’s tourism industry.

Macau, but contrast, has a 39% tax on gross gambling revenue, while Singapore taxes gambling revenue at around 15%.

Companies bidding for the Russian project should focus on generating inbound tourism from East Asia, specifically South Korea, Japan and greater China, the filing said. Vladivostok, which has been undergoing a facelift ahead of hosting the APEC summit in September, is two hours by plane from Seoul and Tokyo.

Revenues from the tourism zone, which will include luxury hotels, a yacht club, shopping malls and sporting venues for skiing and golf, could hit $2 billion-$7 billion once the zone is complete, industry analysts have speculated.

Russian nationals will be able to legally gamble in the zone, unlike countries such as Vietnam, where only foreign passport holders can gamble. The zone, which can accommodate about five large resorts, will give operators control of the land until 2025 under terms that can be extended.

There is no maximum restriction on the amount of allowable casino gambling space, but the government wants companies to ensure that non-gambling revenues make up a large proportion of total revenues on a model similar to Las Vegas, a resort destination popular with conventions.

Casino operators will be allowed to compete on the extension of credit to gamblers, according to the Request for Concepts document. Bidders are also being asked to suggest how junket companies, who act as a conduit in bringing in wealthy high rollers, should be regulated.

“At present, there is no legislation in the Russian Federation that regulates junkets and junket licencing,” said Marina Lomakina, general director of OJSC Nash Dom Primorye. “However, we envision that in the future the integrated entertainment zone will be closer to that of Las Vegas than to the stricter controls that we see in Singapore.”

Russia was using a process similar to that used by Singapore to select casino companies and would implement “strict international standards” against money laundering and illegal money lending similar to those of Las Vegas, Macau and Singapore. The deadline for submitting proposals is 21st September. The government will then review the bids and start discussions with potential investors by the end of October.

Melco Crown Still Awaiting Approval for Casino at Macao Studio City

Macau casino operator Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd still does nott have permission to build a casino at its latest project, according to a revised government contract published on 25th July.

The Macao Studio City project, in which Melco Crown has a 60% equity interest, is designated for a five-star hotel and film facilities, indicates the latest government contract detailing various revisions to the agreement. But the document does not mention any casino facilities despite the company’s earlier statements they hope to open up to 400 gambling tables at the property.

While it is possible the government could give the green-light

Sands Get Deadline Extension on Cotai Parcel 3Las Vegas Sands Corp.’s

Macau unit said the local government has given it a three-year extension to finish construction of the planned integrated resort known as “Parcel 3,” which will be connected to its flagship Venetian Macao property. According to a Dow Jones Newswires report, Sands China Ltd announced on 16th July that the Macau government will now give it until 17th April, 2016, to complete the project. Sands China was initially supposed to finish the project by August 2011, previously received an extension until April 2013 and then applied for another extension earlier this year.

Had the company not received the government’s approval to continue construction, it could have lost its land rights to the area as well as the money it had already invested in developing the land—US$96 million, according to LVS’ 2011 annual report.

Sands China also said the Macau government will impose a penalty fine on it for the construction delay. The company said the government would notify it of the amount, without elaborating.

Vladivostok Casino Zone Offering Near Zero Tax Rate

A Russian territory hoping to lure global casino operators to set up large-scale resorts has unveiled initial guidelines that offer companies more lucrative terms than Macau and Singapore, according to a Reuters report.

Home to the port city of Vladivostok, Russia’s Primorsky Territory, a mountainous region bordering China and Korea, is planning to develop 12 casinos with the first phase of a three-part rollout to be completed by 2016 and a planned total investment

Rendering of planned development on Cotai Parcel 3

Seeking bidders—central Vladivostok


Briefs

on a casino later, the uncertainty could complicate the company’s efforts to finance the project.

In June 2011, Melco Crown signed a $360 million deal to gain control over the Macao Studio City project, resolving a bitter dispute between the project’s earlier partners that had escalated to the Hong Kong courts, stalling development for years. New Cotai Holdings LLC, an arm of U.S. investment firms Oaktree Capital Management L.P. and Silver Point Capital L.P., retained its 40% stake in the project.

A source familiar with Melco Crown’s negotiations with the government told Portuguese-language Journal Tribuna de Macau that “everything indicates there will be a casino at Studio City”. The source did not elaborate, however.

Meanwhile, English-language Macau newspaper Business Daily reported: “The latest gazette entry mentions a five-star hotel and tourism facilities. There are other projects in Macau where that has been used as the basis for including a casino.”

Echo’s New Chairman Open to Joint Venture With CrownAccording to an article in the Australian Financial Review Echo

Entertainment Group is open to James Packer’s plan to establish a joint venture servicing the international high roller market in Australia should the billionaire’s Crown Ltd lift its stake in its rival to 25%.

The AFR reveals “that the VIP joint venture plan has been discussed informally between senior figures at the two companies, with Echo indicating that it is open to co-operation in a market where both companies face increasing competition from Asian rivals.”

The tie-up would only be discussed in detail after Crown increases its stake in Echo from 10%, as it has sought regulatory approval to do, according to one source with knowledge of the matter. No formal discussions have taken place and no proposal has been presented to Echo, although both sides have expressed interest in the prospect.

A joint venture in the Australian VIP market, which caters largely to well-heeled gamblers from across Asia, would align Crown and Echo’s interests in the only space that they currently compete in.

A deal would also pave the way for co-operation on a new luxury hotel and casino at Sydney’s Barangaroo, where Crown has commenced talks with developer Lend Lease despite Echo holding the monopoly casino licence in Sydney.

Given Echo’s casinos in Sydney and Queensland do not compete with Crown’s in Melbourne and Perth, it is understood that a joint venture in the VIP market could also remove Echo’s objections to Mr

Packer appointing a nominee to its board.The willingness of Echo’s new chairman to engage with Crown

and Genting Group is an about face after the public spat between his ousted predecessor John Story and Mr Packer. Mr Story declared he would “never” allow a competitor such as Crown on to the board, a stance that saw his rival run a ferocious media campaign against the chairman that ultimately succeeded in unseating Mr Story in June.

Mr Packer was unsuccessful in his attempt to appoint a director to the Echo board at the same time, but a joint venture agreement on VIPs and a 25% holding in Echo is expected to resolve the issue.

New Echo chairman John O’Neill has also reached out to competing investor Genting, which emerged as the surprise owner of a holding of just under 10% in Echo in early June, and like Crown has applied to the NSW and Queensland governments to increase its stake beyond that level.

Advisers and representatives of the Malaysian conglomerate, including Mr Lim, have met with Mr O’Neill and Echo chief Larry Mullin on two separate visits to Sydney over the past two months. Mr Lim’s entourage spent several nights at Echo’s flagship casino, The Star, in Sydney, and Brisbane’s Treasury casino, holding meetings as well as gambling and assessing recent renovations, according to sources.

Despite the contact, Echo’s management has no insight into Mr Lim’s plans concerning the Australian company, according to one source who described discussions as “extremely careful and cautious but definitely calm and non-hostile”.

The idea of an alliance over high-roller gamblers between Crown and Echo is not new. As the two dominant casino owners in Australia, Crown and Echo’s former parent Tabcorp had explored options for joint marketing and other forms of co-operation in the VIP market, though they have never struck a deal.

Combined, the two control less than a 3% share of the VIP market across the Asia-Pacific, and both are now looking at ways to increase Australia’s standing in the region and overcome natural disadvantages including the distance to gamble here compared to Macau and Singapore.

Waiting on a casino—the Macao Studio City site

On the hunt—Crown Ltd


International Briefs

Briefs

we are generally pleased with this quarter’s results and remain on track to meet our fiscal year 2012 financial goals.”

As part of the company’s US$1 billion stock repurchase program, IGT bought back some 23 million shares in the quarter.

LVS Revenue Rises, But Earnings Miss Expectations

Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman Sheldon Adelson was blunt about his disappointment with the company’s second quarter earnings, saying “our quarterly results did not meet my expectations.”

LVS blamed lower hold on table games, higher provisions for accounts receivable at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, and unspecified elevated legal expenses for a 34.6% decline in net income and a 35.6% decrease in earnings per share for the three-month period ended 30th June.

Still, LVS, which operates casinos in Macau, Singapore, the Las Vegas Strip and Pennsylvania, saw revenues increase 10.1% year-on-year to US$2.58 billion in the quarter.

“Our financial results reflected solid revenue growth overall and significant cash flow in both Macau and Singapore, as well as the continued steady execution of our Cotai Strip development plan in Macau,” Mr Adelson said.

The company’s net income for the quarter was US$240.6 million, compared with $367.6 million in the second quarter of 2011. Earnings per share were 29 cents, compared with 45 cents in the prior year quarter. Analysts polled by Yahoo Finance expected earnings of 61 cents per share.

“Generally, performance was poor but liquidity remains strong,” KDP Investment Advisors gaming analyst Barbara Cappaert said in a research note. “We do think that event risk remains high as market concerns about a slowdown in [Las Vegas and Macau] have translated into weak stock performance for Las Vegas Sands shares.”

In Macau, where in April LVS opened the first phase of the US$4.4 billion Sands Cotai Central, total revenues in the quarter were $1.48 billion, an increase of 22.3% compared with $1.21 billion a year ago. Net income in Macau, however, fell 40% to $160.5 million, mainly because of a $100.8 million non-cash impairment loss on two Cotai development parcels, lower VIP baccarat hold, and increased pre-opening expenses related to Sands Cotai Central.

LVS’ revenue increase in Macau helped offset declines in its other

IGT’s Revenue Rise Driven Partly By Social GamingSlot machine giant

International Game Technology (IGT) said its quarterly revenues rose 9% year-on-year in the three-month period ending 30th June, which constitutes the third quarter in the company’s fiscal year, due partly to the spare change social gaming customers spent to increase their virtual bankrolls at the company’s Double Down Casino, according to a report in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

IGT, which has headquarters in both Las Vegas and Reno, said overall revenues were US$532.8 million in the quarter. However, the company’s net income in the quarter fell 46.4% to $46.6 million, compared with $86.9 million in the same quarter a year ago. The company reported earnings per share of 16 cents, down from 29 cents per share in the third quarter of 2011.

IGT’s net income has declined for three straight quarters. In the second quarter, net income fell 11.1% from the year earlier, while the figure fell 33.1% in the first quarter.

Revenues from the company’s gaming operations division, which covers slot machines leased by casinos that share gaming revenues with IGT, as well as the interactive gaming business, grew 13% to $301.2 million in the third quarter. Without its interactive gaming business, the company said division revenues would have been flat.

Users to the company’s Double Down Casino, which is found on Facebook, spent 25 cents per day on the website in the third quarter, up from 24 cents per day in the second quarter. Customers can play with virtual gaming chips for free but Double Down allows players to buy additional virtual tokens for a fee.

IGT bought Double Down Casino for $500 million in January. According to IGT, Double Down had 5.2 million monthly users at the end of June, a decrease of 7% when compared with the end of March.

IGT Chief Executive Officer Patti Hart said Double Down allows the company to place its slot machine titles in front of potential casino customers who play the games for free in a social setting. Instead of being seen by 1,000 people per day in a casino, the game was played by more than 1 million people per day worldwide. “Our goal is to place multiple titles on multiple platforms,” Ms Hart said.

IGT said it sold 8,200 machines in North America during the quarter, 67% more than the same quarter last year. However, the average price per slot machine was US$13,146, roughly $1,200 less per machine than a year ago.

Ms Hart said on a conference call with investors and analysts that the reduced price per machine was because of the number of lower-priced video lottery terminals sold during the quarter.

“Our third-quarter revenue growth and strong cash flows are reflective of our diverse business model,” Ms Hart said in a statement. “Against the backdrop of an inconsistent global economic recovery,

Double Down—Facebook’s largest interactive casino

Revenue decline—the Palazzo (left) and The Venetian (right) in Las Vegas


Briefs

two key markets, Singapore and Las Vegas.In Singapore, total revenues at the Marina Bay Sands fell 5.8%

to US$694.8 million. The figure includes a 7.5% decrease in casino revenue, which was hurt by lower table game hold.

“Looking ahead, as Singapore’s complementary business and leisure tourism offerings continue to expand, we are confident that Marina Bay Sands will continue to generate outstanding returns for our company,” Mr Adelson said.

Total revenues on the Strip from The Venetian and Palazzo fell 1.6% to US$327.3 million in the quarter. Hold percentage was lower compared to a year ago, which lowered the company’s results.

“Baccarat play was up, but other table games play was down, reflecting overall market conditions in Las Vegas,” Mr Adelson said.

Wynn Resorts Earnings Hit By Declines in Macau and Vegas

Wynn Resorts Ltd reported that second-quarter earnings fell short of analyst estimates as revenue fell on lower gambling figures in Las Vegas and Macau.

Net income was US$138.1 million, or $1.37 a share, compared with $122 million, or 97 cents a share, in the second quarter of 2011. Revenue was $1.25 billion, a decline from the $1.36 billion the company reported in the same period last year. Analysts surveyed by Yahoo Finance had expected earnings of $1.54 a share on revenue of $1.36 billion.

Steve Wynn, chairman and chief executive of Wynn Resorts, said Las Vegas gaming revenues were hurt by a lower hold in baccarat. He described the decline in baccarat revenue as “short-term.”

“Last year in Las Vegas we enjoyed a very high (hold),” Mr Wynn told analysts on a conference call following the earnings announcement. “Baccarat play tends to be volatile. The rest of the business was flat or slightly up in Las Vegas.”

“No one can predict tomorrow. We have to be prepared for anything,” Mr Wynn said. He described China’s economy as being “more stable than anywhere else, even if things are a little sketchy.”

Casino revenues at Wynn Las Vegas and Encore were US$98.6 million, down 37.7% from the second quarter of 2011. Revenues for the second quarter in Las Vegas were off 11.6% to $345.6 million, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization declined to $81.9 million.

The company’s Macau revenue fell 7.1% to $907.6 million, while EBITDA declined 3.9% to $302.2 million. It was the first time its

revenue has declined in Macau in three years.“We are very happy with our business in China,” Mr Wynn said.

“Asia is starting to feel similar economic stresses to what Europe and the U.S. is feeling. I’m hoping we can be agile enough to adjust to those changes.”

Mr Wynn said the company had started work on its US$4 billion Cotai project, its second Macau resort. The project includes 2,000 hotel rooms, 600 gaming tables, 10 restaurants, shops, a spa, meeting rooms and a nightclub.

Mr Wynn described Cotai as an “ambitious and far-reaching project” that if done right will change Cotai much as the Bellagio and Wynn changed the luxury resort business in Las Vegas. “This business is about amusement and self-indulgence on a certain level,” he added.

Shares of Wynn Resorts have been hit hard in recent months over worries about Asian growth and the company’s legal battle with co-founder Kazuo Okada. The company announced that it has approved a cash dividend of 50 cents a share, payable on 14th August to shareholders of record on 31st July.

Grand Casino Bern Chooses Gaming Support SignsGrand Casino Bern, one of Switzerland’s largest and most

prestigious casinos, has chosen to install a range of signs by Gaming Support.

Under the terms of the agreement, Gaming Support will deliver specially designed signs to help Grand Casino Bern create a refreshingly attractive environment for its customers. With 14 live tables and 350 cashless gaming machines, this A-license casino offers six enticing jackpots; including the Swiss Jackpot, Europe’s largest tax-free casino jackpot.

“Gaming Support signs offered the best combination of innovation, speed and quality to meet our needs,” commented Gerhard Stiegler, Technical Director of Grand Casino Bern. “The designs by Gaming Support exceeded our expectations as unique signs to help refresh the look and feel of our casino floor. We will use these signs to help communicate with our customers a variety of the jackpots we offer throughout our property, including the Swiss Jackpot, our Teatro Jackpot and our Auto Jackpot.”

Gaming Support will supply Grand Casino Bern both traditional and Agility signs. The latter is the company’s super slim, lightweight sign option.

Evolutionary product—Wynn and Encore Las Vegas

Gaming Support jackpot sign at Grand Casino Bern


20 - 22 August, 2012Gaming, Racing & Wagering AustraliaSofitel, Sydney, AustraliaGaming, Racing & Wagering Australia has firmly established itself as a leading commercial event for the dynamic Australian gaming market and has quickly become a favorite for those at the heart of the industry. The third edition of this popular event promises to deliver even more valuable insights, drawing on the opinions of policy makers and stakeholders from all segments of the community.Website: h t t p : / / w w w . b e a c o n e v e n t s . c o m / 2 0 1 2 /

GamingDownUnder2012/en/Home

21 - 23 August, 2012Australasian Gaming Expo (AGE) 2012Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, AustraliaThe Australasian Gaming Expo is the largest gaming equipment trade show in Australia. AGE features more than 150 exhibitors and over 15,000 square meters of exhibition space, showcasing the latest in gaming and related equipment and systems.Website: http://www.austgamingexpo.com/

19 - 20 September, 2012Caribbean Gaming Show & ConferenceRenaissance Santo Domingo Jaragua Hotel & Casino, Santo Domingo, Dominican RepublicThe Caribbean Gaming Show & Conference is the largest gaming exhibition in the Caribbean. Taking place in Santo Domingo, the show hosts gaming manufacturers, distributors, consultants, and regulators, as well as top gaming executives representing more than 60 casinos and major sportsbook operators from the Dominican Republic and surrounding countries.Website: http://www.caribbeangamingshow.com/

1 - 4 October, 2012Global Gaming Expo 2012 (G2E)Sands Expo and Convention Center, Las VegasG2E is the premier trade show and conference for the worldwide gaming-entertainment industry. It’s the best place to see and learn what’s new and what’s next so you can gain the information you need to succeed in gaming’s fiercely competitive marketplace. Join us to see leading exhibitors showcasing the latest products/technologies, learn from experts in the four-day world-class conference, and network with the Who’s Who of gaming.Website: http://www.globalgamingexpo.com/

16 - 18 October, 2012ENADA ROME 2012 - International Amusement & Gaming ShowFiera di Roma (Rome Fair), ItalyNow in it’s 40th year, ENADA ROME 2012 - International Amusement & Gaming Show reconfirms its role as the gaming and amusement exhibition leader in Italy. Enada features gaming and amusement industry products, technologies and services from top Italian and foreign manufacturers, including slot machines, VLTs and video games.Website: http://en.enada.it/

13 - 15 November, 2012SAGSE Buenos AiresCosta Salguero Convention Center, Buenos Aires, ArgentinaSAGSE Gaming & Amusement Buenos Aires (Expo & Congress) is the largest and most important industry exhibition in Latin America featuring all the supplies and equipment needed for the set up of casinos, bingo, lotteries, betting shops and entertainment venues.Website: http://www.monografie.com/eng/

Events Calendar

denotes events where Inside Asian Gaming will be available. To list your event here and on our website, email [email protected].

Events Calendar

http://www.austgamingexpo.com/

http://www.caribbeangamingshow.com/

http://www.globalgamingexpo.com/

http://en.enada.it/

http://www.monografie.com/eng/


Crime Scene - Inside Asian Gaming

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