\nVinicy Chan, Bloomberg<\/p>\n
\tMacau is facing threats to its growth from China\u2019s slowing economy and greater foreign competition, escalating the need for the world\u2019s largest gambling hub to diversify from its casino gaming roots.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI\u2019d say the slowdown in the economy and the fact that now the foreign destinations might become competitors\u201d are the biggest risks to Macau\u2019s growth, Pansy Ho, co-chairman of MGM China Holdings Ltd, said in an interview with Betty Liu on Bloomberg Television in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
\tAs Chinese tourists travel more frequently and farther afield, the city could gradually lose its appeal, said Ho, who\u2019s nicknamed \u201ccasino queen\u201d by local media. \u201cWe\u2019re already beginning to see that the customers coming through our doors are more demanding, they now know how to differentiate.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tChinese tourists have been powering the growth of Macau which leapfrogged the Las Vegas Strip in 2006 to become the world\u2019s largest gambling hub. Casino operators such as Ho\u2019s MGM China and Sands China Ltd. have added shops, restaurants and entertainment shows to draw mainland travelers as high-stakes gamblers cut spending amid a cooling Chinese economy.<\/p>\n
\tHo, whose father Stanley Ho held a 40-year gambling monopoly in Macau until 2002, is helping lead a drive to transform the city into a global tourism destination. The 51- year-old sees the need to reduce the territory\u2019s reliance on gaming halls that raked in $45 billion of casino revenue last year.<\/p>\n
\tThe city has been impacted by a slowdown in gambling growth in recent months as bettors cut spending amid a cooling economy and a nationwide crackdown on corruption in China. China\u2019s President Xi Jinping\u2019s clampdown on lavish spending has hurt sales of luxury goods such as Rolex watches and Prada bags.<\/p>\n
\tLocal Flair<\/p>\n
\tMacau\u2019s casinos have borrowed from other cultures to re- create features in the past and now mainland customers can afford to travel overseas to experience the original, \u201creal things,\u201d said Ho, who has a net worth of $4.9 billion according to Bloomberg\u2019s Billionaires Index.<\/p>\n
\tTo draw more Chinese patrons, MGM China, the Macau unit of MGM Resorts International, has been adding local flair by playing up the Macanese and Portuguese influences at its properties, said Ho. Sands China competes with Italian singing gondolas and rival Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd. with Parisian cabarets.<\/p>\n
\tMacau is the only place in China where casinos are legal. Mainland Chinese tourists accounted for two-thirds of the total visitors to the former Portuguese enclave in the first quarter.<\/p>\n
\tNew Island<\/p>\n
\tHo is now extending her family\u2019s footprint to Hengqin in China, an island next to Macau that\u2019s connected by a bridge and is earmarked for non-gaming purposes. She will achieve that with Shun Tak Holdings Ltd., a property to transportation conglomerate set up by her father in 1972 and now run by her.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWe\u2019re building hotels, serviced apartments and a shopping center,\u201d Ho said of a $118 million project. \u201cWe\u2019re immediately connected to the custom checkpoint, so we\u2019re almost the first stop once you clear customs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tStanley Ho, 92, held a gaming monopoly in Macau that helped build SJM Holdings Ltd. into Asia\u2019s biggest casino company. The Macau government opened up the market in 2002 to foreign rivals such as Sheldon Adelson\u2019s Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Steve Wynn\u2019s Wynn Resorts Ltd.<\/p>\n
\tFriendly Competitor<\/p>\n
\tWhile Ho is in charge at Shun Tak, her younger brother Lawrence Ho, whom she described as a \u201cfriendly competitor,\u201d has gone his own way. He set up Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. in a joint venture with Australian billionaire James Packer.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cFor me, I try to step out of my father\u2019s shadow and do something on my own,\u201d Lawrence said in a separate interview at City of Dreams, Melco\u2019s biggest casino in Macau. \u201cI\u2019ve been trying to prove myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe company is building casinos in Macau and the Philippines, and is also keen on expanding into Japan, the world\u2019s third-largest economy, said the Melco Crown co-chairman and chief executive officer.<\/p>\n
\tMelco Crown, which currently operates two casinos in Macau, has almost doubled its revenue to $5.09 billion in 2013 from $2.64 billion in 2010. SJM had $11.3 billion revenue last year from 20 casinos in Macau.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cLawrence really wants to grow his gaming enterprise beyond Macau and grow his portfolio,\u201d said Pansy, his elder sister. \u201cIn my case, I\u2019d like to really do more for the general well-being of Macau, promoting Macau as a destination.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Vinicy Chan, Bloomberg Macau is facing threats to its growth from China\u2019s slowing economy and greater foreign competition, escalating the need for the world\u2019s largest gambling hub to diversify from its casino gaming roots. \u201cI\u2019d say the slowdown in the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-casino-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7625\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}