The departure of U.S. hedge fund tycoon Philip Falcone from the Harbinger Group conglomerate he helped found will not affect operations at The Grand – Ho Tram, the Vietnam casino he controls through a majority stake in The Grand’s owner, Asian Coast Development (Canada).
Falcone’s resignation from Harbinger is “completely unrelated” to The Grand’s financial and management structure, said Stephen Shoemaker, ACDL’s chairman and CEO. As he explained it, Falcone’s involvement in The Grand is managed through a separate hedge fund, Harbinger Capital Partners, which recently provided the struggling US$500 million resort on the South China Sea coast with a $50 million cash infusion.
Falcone himself told BuzzFeed News that leaving Harbinger was “my idea” and that he is focused on other ventures, including “my Vietnam casino,” he said.
The Grand, located on a scenic stretch of beach about 120 kilometers (75 miles) southeast of Ho Chi Minh City, opened to much fanfare in July 2013 as Vietnam’s first destination-scale casino, but building the business has proved more difficult than anticipated in the face of the government’s nationwide ban on domestic casino play. Results have been improving more recently, according to reports, and a $20 million investment by Macau junket room operator Chien Lee has raised the property’s profile with Chinese high rollers.
The Grand also plans to start offering VIPs the option to place bets in real time via telephone, a popular form of gambling in Asia known as proxy betting, which is accomplished through agents present at the tables who place bets as directed by the gambler, who watches the action from his home country via a live internet stream and is connected to his agent or agents via phone.
“It is imminent and supposed to happen in early December,” said Shoemaker. “Our guys are just getting the software components in place, but we have all the hardware pieces set up.”
He added, “Our legal guys have said it’s legal in Vietnam and there are no issues. It’s already being done at other casino properties in Vietnam.”
