Business Times - 21 Jan 2010
Junkets have significant role: RWS
By ARTHUR SIM
(SINGAPORE) Genting Group chairman Lim Kok Thay has acknowledged the significant role junket promoters play in casinos and said that they are 'an important part of gaming'.
Speaking at the opening of four Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) hotels yesterday, he also said he expects its casino 'will get its fair share of junket business'.
Mr Lim's comments come after the Casino Regulatory Authority (CRA) released the junket licensing regulations in December 2009.
Widely considered by analysts as being 'strict', the licensing regulations raised the concern that junket promoters - who help generate a large chunk of the gaming revenue - might even give Singapore casinos a miss.
Mr Lim did not say when the casino would open but revealed that the Festival Walk and Universal Studios Singapore (USS) would be the next attractions to open. He said RWS was, 'still working closely with the authorities', on its casino licence. The application was submitted in December and typically takes three months to process.
Mr Lim was sanguine on the prospects of junket promoters though. He said: 'In our view, the junket regulations are no worse than other gaming jurisdictions in the world.'
Indeed, Ramachandar Siva, a veteran of 20 years in the gaming industry here, said he believes the interest in junket licences is high, with 'many new players trying to get licences'. But he also added: 'It's not clear how many will qualify.'
Junket operations include providing credit to gamblers as well as collecting debts.
Mr Ramachandar is the chief executive of ICG School of Casino & Hospitality Management. He was formerly vice-president of casino operations at Star Cruises.
Giving some insight into the industry, he said there could be 20 to 30 junket promoters operating in Singapore alone, the largest of which is said to be Heng Heng Corporation.
Unlike in Macau, Mr Ramachandar believes junkets have not played a big role in casinos in Malaysia. As such, he expects up to 80 per cent of gaming revenue for the casinos here to come from the grind (or mass market players).
While Singaporeans are expected to make up a significant share of the grind, Genting's Mr Lim said he expects about 60 per cent of RWS' visitors to come from overseas, with 20-25 per cent of these (or about 12-15 per cent of the total) coming from China.
News of another Universal Studios theme park in South Korea, did take Mr Lim by surprise.
Billed as the largest theme park in Asia at a cost of around S$3.7 billion, the South Korean Universal Studios theme park is expected to attract 15 million local and overseas visitors a year.
Still Mr Lim was unfazed, saying another theme park would 'add to the Universal Studios brand'. He said he was also confident that USS is 'unique' as it has several attractions that have been created just for Singapore.
He also revealed that RWS has other facilities, including those for meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) that will attract visitors.
Giving an update, he said that RWS has already booked 33 MICE events for the year with the size of events ranging between 300-7000 delegates. 'We are doing very well in the MICE business,' he added.
What RWS has yet to deliver are the 10,000 jobs it said it would create.
To date, it has 6,400 staff on its payroll.
While more staff can be expected to be added when the rest of RWS opens by next year, the job market has become tighter.
James Mendes, managing director of recruitment consultancy Alexander Mann Solutions (Asia Pacific) noted: 'A trend that we have noticed, especially among the boutique hotels is the movement of experienced staff from other organisations into the IR.'
He added: 'The staff that the IRs are hiring will contain a certain number of people in the hard-to- source roles, which will of course put more pressure on this sector of the market.'
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