Vietnam’s largest gaming resort, the Grand – Ho Tram, plans to offer live betting by phone in a bid by the struggling casino to boost high-roller revenue.
Stephen Shoemaker, CEO of the Grand’s ownership group, Asian Coast Development (Canada), said hardware for the platform is in place at the US$500 million, 500-room resort and betting could launch as early as this month.
The system, also known as proxy betting, is popular in Macau and the Philippines, as a convenience for big bettors who desire to play without the need to be physically present at the table. The bettor is able to observe the action via a live video feed from any location and issue instructions to a representative at the table.
Shoemaker says such live streams are already in operation in other casinos in Vietnam.
The Grand, the country’s first full-scale resort casino, has yet to turn a profit since opening in July 2013, according to reports. Though occupying a picturesque beachfront location on the South China Sea, the operation has been hobbled by its distance from Ho Chi Minh City, about a two hours’ drive to the west, and its inability to accept domestic play, which is forbidden in Vietnam by law.
ACDL is formulating plans for expanding The Grand with a second hotel tower, possibly developed on a time-share basis, and other attractions, and a recent US$20 million investment by Macau junket promoter Chien Lee, founder of Nasdaq-listed Iao Kun Group, is expected to help raise the resort’s profile with the Chinese VIP market.
New management also is being installed under Asian gaming veteran Shaun McCamley as the Grand’s new president.
ACDL also is keeping a close eye on events in Hanoi, where a new national regulatory framework is being discussed that could pave the way for a limited opening of the market to Vietnamese citizens. The prospects are attracting renewed overseas interest, most notably in recent weeks from Hong Kong property and retail giant Chow Tai Fook Enterprises.
“We are interested,” said Henry Cheng, a director at the closely held company, speaking of a possible investment in the central province of Quang Nam. “We are doing something now to secure this project.”
Chow Tai Fook, which owns the largest chain of jewelry stores in the world, is controlled by the family of Cheng’s father, Hong Kong’s fourth-richest man, Cheng Yu Tung. The elder Cheng is a longtime friend of Macau casino mogul Stanley Ho and a 10 percent stakeholder in Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes, which was founded by Ho in the 1960s to run the casino monopoly he once held in Macau. STDM also is the controlling shareholder in Ho’s post-monopoly casino operator, Hong Kong-listed SJM Holdings.
Chow Tai Fook is eyeing potential gaming investments across the Asia-Pacific region and is partnering with Australian casino giant Echo Entertainment on a bid for a $1 billion resort casino in the state of Queensland’s capital of Brisbane.
Separately, Henry Cheng’s Hong Kong-listed International Entertainment Corp., agreed earlier this year to pay as much as HK$7.35 billion (US$948 million) for a controlling stake in Macau’s largest junket operator and promoter, SunCity.
