Gaming | Saipan casino taps into VIP market

Saipan, a small island in the western Pacific Ocean, may have found a new niche in the gambling industry.
Ever since the Best Sunshine International opened a temporary casino in a duty-free mall on the island, Saipan has generated USD1.5 billion per month in gaming revenues, mostly from Chinese VIP gamers who once frequented Macau.
Mark Brown, chief executive of Best Sunshine International, told the Nikkei Asian Review that the casino’s success in tapping into the VIP segment was all due to timing.
He said the high rollers who formerly frequented Macau had been driven away by President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign and capital flight restrictions.
Instead, Brown said, high rollers and casino operators are eyeing alternative locations within the region. Local regulations in Macau have only deterred potential customers.
“Macau numbers […] are not going down because the guys are broke. They are going down because of things that are going on in Macau, issues and restrictions,” Brown told the Nikkei Asian Review.
Brown used to run Las Vegas Sands in Macau, but has also held senior roles at other casinos in Phnom Penh, Las Vegas and Atlantic City.
He said the Saipan casino is “dealing with the ‘VVIP’ [sic] guys that we personally know. They are coming and they are loving it […] there’s a lot of repeat business.”
Casinos in other parts of Asia that are close to China now threaten to divert gaming revenue from the MSAR. In recent years, casino resorts have emerged in the Philippines, South Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia and Russia’s eastern Primorsky region. DB