85
Playing the game W
Singapore’s Genting Resorts World Sentosa has an early lead over Las Vegas Sands’ Marina Bay Sands in gaming revenue, owing to superior marketing and bending the rules
BY MUHAMMAD COHEN
hen Marina Bay Sands opened its doors in April, experts be- lieved the Singapore casino
race was over. With its iconic design, international heritage and downtown location, the Las Vegas Sands property was expected to soar above rival Resorts World Sentosa, just as the property tow- ers 57 stories above Singapore’s fi nan- cial district. Six months on, as expected, one
casino holds a dominant market share, collecting 67 percent of gaming revenue by some estimates. But
that casino is
Genting’s Resorts World Sentosa, not Marina Bay Sands. According to parent company Las
Vegas Sands’ second quarter fi nancial report, Marina Bay Sands generated US$94 million (MOP752 million) in earnings before interest, taxes, depre- ciation and amortisation (EBITDA) on revenue of US$216.4 million in its 65 days of operation. Gaming revenue was US$190.8 million or about US$2.9 mil- lion daily. Genting reported EBITDA for Re-
sorts World Sentosa at S$504 million (MOP3 billion) on revenue of S$861 mil- lion, without giving additional details.
Analysts estimate Resorts World Sen-
tosa’s gaming revenue at S$600million to S$700 million for the second quarter, or between US$5 million and US$5.8 mil- lion per day, giving it a market share above 60 percent. Genting shares, as low as S$0.86 in April, have rocketed past S$2.00.
A running start High EBITDA and observations from the gaming fl oor suggest heavy slot machine play, which produces higher operating revenue than the tables. Slots have done well in Singapore with Las Vegas Sands chairman and chief executive Sheldon Adelson telling last month’s CLSA Investors’ Forum in Hong Kong that slot win per unit at the Marina Bay Sands was “probably record-setting”. Analysts cite several factors behind
the Resorts World Sentosa advantage. Opened during the Lunar New Year, 10 weeks before Marina Bay Sands, “Re- sorts World Sentosa was able to get a small strategic advantage”, said Jonathan Galaviz, managing director of travel and leisure consultant Galaviz and Company. “Genting has deep operating ex-
perience in the Southeast Asian mar- ketplace, which gave them a running start.” Genting opened its Highlands Re-
sort outside Kuala Lumpur in 1965. That resort, the only legal casino in Malaysia, has traditionally catered to Malaysian ethnic Chinese and Singaporeans. Ma- laysian law prohibits ethnic Malay Mus- lims from gambling.
Stopping the bus Those groups constitute the market for Singapore’s so-called integrated resorts and Resorts World Sentosa has mar- keted to them far more aggressively than Marina Bay Sands. “Resorts World Sentosa managed to
rally the critical mass of the Malaysian mass gaming market segment through its effective bussing programme from up north, across the causeway,” Platform Asia managing director Felix Ling told Macau Business. Both resorts had shuttle bus services
within the city state but again, Resorts World Sentosa was more aggressive, drawing parliamentary scrutiny for run- ning shuttles into Singapore’s so-called “Heartland” public housing estates.
OCTOBER 2010
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