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Casinos reinstate China staff as clampdown fears ease after Crown arrests

James Packer sold down Crown's investment in Macau in early December, ceding control of Melco Crown's casinos to local billionaire Lawrence Ho. AP

by Michael Smith

China has been off limits for many of the world's casino operators since the arrest of 18 Crown Resorts staff six weeks ago. The detention of the employees, including three Australians, on suspicion of "gambling-related crimes" scared the hell out of the world's gaming industry.

The big operators with casinos in Macau looked like they had the most to lose. Las Vegas Sands, MGM Grand and Galaxy Entertainment quickly and quietly told their marketing staff to either get out of the country or down tools.

The Star Entertainment Group, which is understood to have had around a dozen people working for it in China, followed suit. Because it was unclear what was going on or whether the arrests were part of a wider crackdown on the industry, they knew they could not put their own people at risk. The cautious approach was prudent as the casino operators have a duty of care to their staff in China, although that was not the only motivation.

The risks doing business in China are high but the financial rewards are even higher and it was only a matter of time before casino operators decided it was safe to go back into the water.

Sources say they are now moving back in aggressively after pulling out their staff following the arrest of the Crown staff in their homes on October 14. Sources say large operators such as Las Vegas Sands Corp, MGM Grand and Galaxy Entertainment have quietly relaxed an earlier decision to cease marketing activity in China.

Matt Bekier, the chief executive of the company which owns Sydney's The Star casino, is also closely monitoring what the Macau operators are doing. However, it could be months before the company decides to put people back on the ground in mainland China even though it believes its staff were operating firmly within the law there.

The move by the Macau casino operators is a sign they are confident the Crown situation does not represent a blanket clampdown on casino marketing activity in China. Many are also recruiting new staff in the region. One view is that companies such as MGM may also have less to fear than operators in Australia because Beijing would prefer capital going to Macau than to a third country where it has no control.

However, another industry source says the motivation could simply be greed. Gaming companies can simply not afford to lose their most important revenue stream – Chinese high rollers.

Gaming companies have spared no expense wooing big-spending Chinese gamblers to their casinos through junkets and offering multi-million-dollar lines of credit. But to do that they have to navigate Chinese laws that ban them from promoting gambling in China.

Casino operators can legally have teams of sales and marketing staff in China who are allowed to promote their resorts attached to the casinos, side businesses like restaurants and theme parks, and tourism in general.

Most gaming companies pulled those staff out of China following the Crown arrests. Many of those staff are mainland Chinese nationals who have little protection unless they can leave the country.

One local employee of Crown, Jenny Jiang, who worked in administration in Shanghai, was released on bail on November 10.

The other 17 Crown staff, including three Australians, remain in prison and it could be months before the nature of any charges against them are known. They have been detained on suspicion of "gambling-related crimes".

The most senior Australian in custody is Jason O'Connor, the head of Crown's international VIP program, who was visiting Shanghai when the raids took place.

Two of the other Australians being held are Jerry Xuan, the Beijing-based director of international marketing for Crown, and Pan Dan, who goes by the name Jenny.

The casinos putting people back on the ground in China will have to tread carefully though. Analysts are now worried a surge in VIP gaming revenue in Macau in December could trigger further regulatory intervention by China.

"In our view, Beijing remains focused on plugging holes in the capital flight bucket, primarily through junkets and, to a lesser degree, UnionPay," Nomura analysts wrote this week.

"While we don't yet have the December breakdown of VIP versus mass revenues, we believe that the recent growth spurt in Macau VIP revenues to over 20 per cent in November [four times greater than mass growth for the month] is not sustainable and that it could lead to negative policy responses from Beijing if it were to persist."

The latest data from Macau's Gaming Inspection and Co-ordination Bureau says gross gaming revenue rose 8 per cent from a year earlier to 19.8 billion patacas ($3.43 billion), Bloomberg reports.

For the full year, casino revenue fell 3.3 per cent to 223.2 billion patacas, easing from the 34.3 per cent drop recorded in 2015. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expect a 7 per cent increase in gambling revenue in 2017. Part of the reason for the surge in Macau's gaming revenue is also because there are now more casinos open and vying for business.

Sands and Wynn Resorts have opened family-friendly resorts in Macau, which are believed to be drawing in more visitors from other countries such as Japan and the United States. The number of tourists who stay at least one night in Macau rose 10 per cent in November where as those who came for only a day, which means they are primarily gambling, fell 9.7 per cent, according to government data.

Melco's Studio City Resort, which James Packer opened last year, is also targeting tourists with attractions such as a ferris wheel and a Batman ride. Crown will retain a presence in Macau and an 11.2 per cent stake following the sale of the bulk of its stake in the Melco joint venture.


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