EXCLUSIVE CEO INTERVIEW
56
Do you have any plan for the future of Galaxy Entertainment’s so-called City Clubs, namely Waldo, Rio, President and Grand Waldo, which are third-party managed casinos? That’s a sensitive question because we all know that the
fully integrated resorts actually have taken up much of the market share. I believe this is what the future is going to be, integrated resorts. The smaller casino hotel facilities have to work a little
bit harder to be able to compete in the future. They have to personalise services and make an effort in connecting with customers. In a large property like Galaxy Macau, we need to take
care of 50,000 customers a day, whereas in smaller properties a more personal relationship with customers could work won- ders. If they do it right, they can still be very pro table. Take a look at the City Clubs in the peninsula area. Not all
are doing poorly. Some are actually growing too. As long as there is commitment and as long as these guys are thoughtful, they can be competitive. The gaming business in Macau has always had high mar-
gins. If you didn’t manage your operations as tightly as you should, you still earned a lot of money. Nowadays, when you are competing in the big league, the high-margin business ca- sinos enjoyed before, is not there anymore. This has now become a tight-margin business where you
have to look into every detail so that you can drive revenue and at the same time save costs. Smaller casinos can survive and they can be pro table too but these guys need to know that this is not a high-margin business anymore. They have to work hard.
MILKING CASH COWS What is your view on the government’s decision to impose a 3-percent annual growth cap on the number of live gaming tables starting next year? Sands China Ltd. chairman, Sheldon Adelson, has criticised it. Gaming is part of the entertainment offering but it’s not
everything. For Macau to grow, to actually go up in the food chain, we have to realise that the city is a rst-class entertain- ment destination. It’s not just a casino hop anymore. The city has high ambitions. Our citizens have asked for
more. Ten or 20 years ago, people would have loved to have had just gaming because they could get a job. Nowadays, so much has been invested, so much has been done that Macau’s ambition is to become a rst-class entertainment centre. Some people might not want to work in a gaming envi-
ronment any more. They might want to pursue other careers. Somehow there should be a certain degree of control on how gaming should be allowed. We have to use gaming as a cata- lyst but gaming is not everything.
“Three to four-star hotels are something that will defi nitely have to be provided. We have a big land and sometime in the future we will look into that”
DECEMBER 2011 I could ask Mr Adelson: ‘Look, why don’t we just open
6,000 tables at your home, where all your relatives will have only one career path, which is gaming. Would you like it?’ We are free people and the citizens of Macau have the choice
to say ‘no’ and choose a healthier environment and society. We have just 30 square kilometres of land and half a
million people. What can we do? We have to nd a way to make use of the gaming business to make sure that we grow as a whole. Everybody is entitled to his or her own view. I see gaming
as a catalyst for a better society where Macau citizens will be happier in the future. Others just want to milk every dollar. I think growth should be moderate. Another thing is the number of tables should be more
equally spread between the six gaming operators. That way we can compete on a more equal ground. There are some his- torical reasons regarding the issue of who should have more or less tables. I respect that but the numbers can’t be as far apart as they are today. The difference between the operator with the most tables and that with less is enormous.
Just last month, Galaxy Macau opened its new cinema complex. How much revenue can it generate? This is a facility that has taken too long to come to the
market. Ten years have passed since the last cinema house was built in Macau. During these 10 years, a lot has happened in terms of new technology and innovations in the cinema in- dustry. We are the rst ones to bring world-class international standards to Macau. The cinema complex will be able to do a couple of things
for us. The rst one is to provide our customers more choice. When people come here for the weekend, hopefully they will stay longer with us because they can bring families as well. Second, I’ve been told that Macau people had to make a ferry trip to Hong Kong to watch the latest blockbusters. Not any- more, because we will be showing them here as well. We are also happy to have created a beautiful movie thea-
tre where we will have a lot of movie premieres, a lot of red carpet events to showcase Macau and Galaxy, of course.
HIGHER AMBITIONS When do you hope to recoup the investment made in Galaxy Macau? We are very happy with our performance over the last six
months, which actually exceeded our initial expectations. Can we do better? Absolutely. We should be able to do a lot bet- ter. The rst quarter results gave us a reasonable perspective for return on our investment. We have all the reasons to be optimistic.
Galaxy Macau still has areas under construction like the sky casino. When will everything be ready? I don’t know how to answer that question because we keep
on changing and improving. Even now, after just six months, we are already improving some of the facilities. I would ex- pect such a big property like this to continue to evolve. How- ever, most of our products will be ready by early 2012.
What has been the most successful bet on this property? Well, the fact that my vision for Galaxy Macau as a des-
tination resort is running like a clock. Before us, nobody would give the destination resort concept a chance in Macau.
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