Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JAPAN NOV 2019 26 Singapore's Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa are each about to embark on US$3.3 billion expansions. シンガポールのマリーナベイ・サンズとリゾートワールド・セントーサはそれぞれ33億米ドルの拡張に間もなく着手する 2019 POWER 50 predominantly focuses on the activities of the prior 12 months. It’s all about “what are you doing now?” and “what have you done lately?” not “what have you done in the last 15 years?” As such the Power 50 list is very dynamic as people move up, and down, and on, for a multitude of reasons. A phenomenon that repeatedly presents during the making of the list each year is the “My business has grown therefore I should move up the list” fallacy. The truth is all boats lift in a rising tide. As a general rule, the majority of people on the list are managing businesses that grow each year, and just to maintain a spot on the list requires annual growth. Someone doing the same thing year after year and achieving similar results will slowly slip down the list as the years roll by. DILEMMAS Although we have become quite adept at putting this list together, the task seems to get more complex each year as the Asian gaming industry matures and becomes more nuanced. How on earth does one compare the sole owner of a smaller property to the brand new “hired help” COO of a much larger one? How about comparing a large property that is still in pre-opening to a smaller one that has been active for years? A junket operator in Macau versus the CEO of the Hong Kong Jockey Club? Or the head of a smallish casino company about to go public to the President of a casino chain in Korea that doesn’t have locals gaming? These are the types of tough questions the selection panel of the Asian Gaming Power 50 wrestles with. As with any such ranked list, there are always criticisms and objections, usually from those who feel slighted against. We often hear claims of not reading the list or not caring about it, but we are often contacted either directly or through surrogates to bemoan the injustice of a perceived lowly position and to lobby for the following year. Strangely, no- one has ever contacted us to complain about being ranked too high!