No spillover of Macau’s gaming woes to Phl – Andrew Tan

MANILA, Philippines - Tycoon Andrew L. Tan said he sees no spillover effects of Macau’s gaming industry slowdown in the Philippines.

In an interview Thursday night, Tan said the Philippine and Macau gaming markets are different from each other and as such, a slump in the world’s biggest gaming hub will not necessarily affect that of the country.

“In Macau, the slowdown is because the big chunk of their market is ultra-high rollers. We don’t have that segment of the market here. That ultra-high roller market is thinning out that’s why their growth has been slow last year but in the Philippines, we have a very different situation because our market here are more on the tourist side,” Tan said.

The billionaire behind companies such as Megaworld and Emperador said foreigners who play and visit Philippine casinos are “not the very high rollers” and are just regular customers compared to those who come to Macau.

“Our definition of VIP is not as big as in Macau. But for us they are VIPs even if they don’t spend a lot because we are very hospitable here,” Tan said.

 “We compete in terms of services, but ultimately, people come here because of our hospitality. We have that advantage because this is a surface industry and I think we are good at that,” he added.

Macau’s gaming revenue fell for the first time last year since 2001, with the Chinese anti-corruption campaign being blamed for the decline.

The Philippine gambling industry, meanwhile, has been on the rise in recent years with the onslaught and opening of several integrated casino resorts.

Travellers International Hotel Group Inc., a joint venture of Tan’s Alliance Global Group Inc. and Genting Hong Kong Ltd., opened Resorts World Manila, the country’s first integrated gaming, entertainment, leisure and hospitality resort, in Pasay City in 2009.

The tandem will also be putting up its second integrated casino resort project called Bayshore City Resorts World in Pagcor’s Entertainment City.

Aside from the existing Solaire Resort and Casino of Bloomberry Resorts Corp. and the recently-opened City of Dreams Manila of Melco Crown Philippines and Belle Corp., the upcoming Bayshore City Resorts World and Manila Bay Resorts of Japanese gaming tycoon Kazuo Okada will complete Entertainment City in the next few years.