Inside Asian Gaming

30 T The Entertainer The dawn of the mega-resorts in Macau will draw a new breed of visitor seeking more entertaining and “light” forms of gaming. Inside Asian Gaming went in search of the most fun-to-play game in the city he US$2.4 billion Venetian heralds the dawn of the mega resorts in Macau. The opening day crowds were primarily intent on gaming, but as the world’s second biggest building settles into the Macau landscape, its expansive and diversified entertainment, dining, retail and convention and exhibition facilities will drive the city’s evolution from hardcore gaming getaway to a more diversi- fied tourism hub in the Vegas mould. The new demographic of visitor drawn to Macau by the coming wave of mega re- sorts will dramatically alter the tourism and gaming markets. Slot machines in particu- lar will gain prominence. Slots contributed a mere 4.2% of casino revenue in Macau in the second quarter of 2006, compared to close to 70% in Vegas as a whole (and over 50% on the Strip). Still, Macau’s slot revenue has already shown explosive percentage growth as traditionally table-loving Chinese gamblers finally start trusting and becoming familiar with gaming machines—slots made up a mere 0.8% of revenue in 2003. The half-million sq. ft casino at Venetian Macao devotes a lot more of its floor space to slot machines than any other casino in the city.When Sands Macao opened, it had a slot to table ratio of 1.46, but Venetian’s ratio at opening is 3.9. High r e t u r n s from putting in more tables had previously discouraged invest- ment in slot machines in Macau, but the tide is clearly turning as both table and slot ca- pacity show explosive growth, but wins per slot have remained steady while wins per table have declined. Visitors to Macau currently hail primarily frommainland China,Hong Kong and Taiwan (over 90% of the total), but the mega resorts will increasingly draw more international visitors and those coming primarily to expe- rience the city’s new non-gaming offerings. Casino operators predict this will lead to even greater growth in demand for less “hardcore” forms of gaming—namely, slots. Slot preferences will also evolve. To date, hyperlinks and progressive jackpots have proved especially popular with Chinese play- ers seeking a big win. While Chinese love to gamble, they are also relatively new to slots. In more m a t u r e markets, players look more to the entertain- ment value of the games they play. Macau had 8,234 slot machines at the end of the first half of this year, with the Venetian alone adding a further 3,400+ at opening.Analysts predict the city will have as many as 50,000 new slots by 2010, and it’s a safe bet to expect entertainment will feature more prominently in the mix. Getting the party started Inside Asian Gaming toured Macau’s casi- nos and slot halls to pick out the product we felt appeared to be engaging players most in the overall entertainment experience, and would thus appeal to the new breed of player set to descend upon the city. Two product ranges earned our pick, both from WMS—Jackpot Party Progressive™ and Hot Hot Penny™. Although both ranges have been on the market for a while, they are still ahead of competing products in terms of rich sound and the sheer appeal of their graphics— In- side Asian Gaming witnessed that appeal first hand during its trip to Cambodia last month, when we spotted the unmistakable Jackpot Party“star”characters making cameo appear- ances on the signage in front of a large non- gaming amusement park under construction in the capital of Phnom Penh. The latest Jackpot Party