Word: crownings
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...Rookie mistakes, perhaps. Ho admits the company "got a little too greedy" by rushing the opening and by targeting mass-market customers. Crown's managers believed all they'd have to do was set up shop to see a rush of gamblers. But with a growing number of casinos in Macau, success was no longer so automatic. "In an all-out competitive environment, it's really a game of inches," Ho says. "Management didn't adapt for the local market." Unlike in Vegas, where casinos are filled by average Joes pumping coins into slot machines, high rollers account for some...
...Melco Crown ripped out slot machines and low-end gaming tables and expanded its VIP casino. But more importantly, Ho outmaneuvered his competitors by coming up with an unusual arrangement to ensure a steady flow of big fish. Macau casinos attract most of their wealthy clientele by working with junket operators, companies that function like specialized travel agencies. By maintaining close ties to high-end gamblers and often providing them with credit to bet, junket operators funnel traffic to the casinos, which pay them commissions. Macau has scores of independent junket operators, making business unpredictable. Ho figured...
...gambit worked. In July, according to Citi Investment analysts, Melco Crown may have claimed the largest share of Macau's VIP market. Now Ho's challenge is staying on top. The Macau government has announced that it intends to cap commission rates paid to junket operators as part of a larger effort to bolster regulation of the industry. That could reduce Ho's leverage, but analysts say Amax's financing power still gives him an advantage. "Once you've got the kind of critical mass Ho's got, it will be difficult to dislodge him as a true contender...
...success has come at the expense of his father, who has lost a large chunk of his high-roller business to Melco Crown and others this year. Ho says his mentor has remained supportive. "He's been great," Ho says. "Even when we weren't doing so well, he did give us advice. It's almost like the two of us have formed our own little casino association. When we have meals together, he looks at me as his son rather than a competitor - even though we go after the same piece of chicken sometimes," Ho says...
...around. The red-hot growth rate of Macau's gambling market is set to ease in the second half of 2008 due to local government efforts to cool Macau's overheating economy. The slowdown could come as several major new projects are launching. Early next year, Melco Crown will open the City of Dreams, a $2.3 billion megaresort that boasts several hotels (including a Grand Hyatt and a Hard Rock Hotel), a 2,000-seat theater, a shopping mall and a 550-table casino...