After a calamitous and incoherent venture into the U.S. gaming industry, James Packer has stuck pretty close to the markets he knows best: Australia and Macao. But he’s feeling his oats again, looking toward Manila, Sri Lanka (which I still think of as Ceylon) and the big sashimi, Japan. This puts Packer somewhat at cross-purposes with business partner Lawrence Ho, who is targeting the Japanese market via a project in Vladivostok. But there’s no substitute for going straight to the source. Packer says, “If Japan comes on it will be the second-biggest gaming market in the world. It has 100 million people who are all mad gamblers but they are all doing it through horse racing and pachinko.” Early estimates of the Japanese market forecast annual revenues of $10 billion. Packer’s got two Aussie casinos and a third (Studio City) in Macao underway, so Japan remains a long-term prospect for the time being.
Haven’t heard of casino mogul Enrique Razon? You will. He’s fresh from the spring opening of Solaire (left) casino-hotel in Manila and looking at transoceanic 
conquests. One of his first targets will be Latin America (which U.S. operators avoid or simply consider not worth the trouble). Razon, who has family ties to Stanley Ho, has also got his eyes on Macao, circa 2020. He’s betting that the Chinese government will put the six concessions up for bid and he wants a piece. But they’re a pretty heavy mob. It won’t be easy to make the case that a guy with one casino in the Philippines should outweigh Las Vegas Sands. As a Macquarie Group analyst says, “Mr. Razon’s expertise is with ports, a business that has no correlation with gaming.”
If Chinese authorities will probably be eagerly skeptical, Razon could at least leverage his port business in Latin America into cracking some of the casino markets there. In the meantime, he implies that he’s doing a 20% ROI on $1.15 billion Solaire. However, between 2014 and 2017, he’ll have to fend off competition from, in succession, Melco Crown Entertainment, Kazuo Okada and Genting Hong Kong. Game on.
Rumblings from Macao. Are casino operators trying to hang onto their concessions by keeping Macanese residents out of management positions? That’s one conclusion that could be extrapolated from remarks by the enclave’s chief executive, Fernando Chui. He’s like to see more Macao natives rising through the ranks. He also implied that more and better amenities might help operators get their concessions renewed. Unlike back in the United States, in Macao when City Hall plays the tune, casino operators had better well get up and dance.
