Grant Bowie | ‘We can obviously build our business from this base’

Grant Bowie has a musical jam with the seniors

MGM China’s CEO and executive director Grant Bowie said yesterday that he is optimistic and “starting to see some early signs of consolidation and some opportunities for growth.”
“It is not nearly as bad as people say it is and we can obviously build our business from this base and continue to be successful,” Mr Bowie said, adding that MGM “would look positively for improvement in the gaming revenue coming this year,” while “also focusing on non-gaming initiatives to bring more customers that may also want to play in our gaming rooms as well.”
Questioned by journalists yesterday on the sidelines of a Chinese New Year house cleaning activity, the CEO refused to make revenue projections for the gaming industry.
“I think analysts are making predictions that are simply guesses. We just have to live with the business that we have. We need to be positive and we need to take care of our customers and to be always looking for new things to bring to Macau [in order] to bring more customers [here],” he said.
For the fifth year, MGM joined hands with “Centro de Dia Brilho da Vida,” a service center for senior citizens operating under Caritas Macau, to organize the “Spring Clean for Love” event for local senior citizens living alone.
MGM’s senior executives led a team of 140 volunteers, including more than 50 management team members, to clean and decorate 200 households of 65- to 90-year-old residents.
Chinese “Fai Chun” (red banners) designed by MGM were placed on doorways and windows as festive decorations to welcome the Chinese New Year. Additionally, the gaming operator presented a New Year “goodie bag” to wish every household a healthy and prosperous year ahead.
According to the information released by MGM, “year by year, the number of volunteers participating in the house cleaning has increased from 60 to 140, and the number of beneficiaries has grown from 80 to 200.”
Commenting on the activity, Grant Bowie stated: “Through the activity, team members show their compassion and support to the community and help to forge a stronger bond within the team.”
MGM has been working with “Centro de Dia Brilho da Vida” since 2010 on various activities for senior citizens locally. A dedicated team of volunteers was formed in May 2011 to pay monthly visits to the center. Staff reporters

transitioning business from vip to mass market

Questioned about the troubled VIP business, Grant Bowie said the gaming industry is “transitioning out of being primarily VIP business into the mass market,” something that the CEO considered to be a “normal part of any business transformation.” He further said that the priority should be to “minimize the impact on those who have been affected” and to “track the customers that are now transitioning into the mass market.” One VIP room closed at MGM in the past six months, and “about three” shut down during the past year, Bowie confirmed. That leaves seven VIP rooms still operating in MGM’s facilities.