WGM#38 NOV/DEC 2015

Tak Chun’s Levo Chan 德 晋 之 陈 荣 炼
AWS: Can you tell us a bit about Tak Chun’s staff? What do you look
for when hiring someone to work for Tak Chun? Given the shortage of
labor in Macau, how do you go about not only finding good staff but
also retaining them?
LC: The staff at Tak Chun are young and have high qualifications and an
international perspective. Most employees have a Bachelor or Master’s degree.
When we hire employees we pay a lot of attention to their
credibility – after all, our industry is very money sensitive. Just as our
Group does, our staff should have an international perspective and
should be willing to learn and grow. Employees should have a good
working attitude that leads them to provide premium service.
Our Group provides appropriate internal training and upward
mobility. There is great potential for our people to expand their horizons
to new management positions. At the same time, the development of the
Group moves in a stable fashion at a gradual pace – we won’t develop a
new VIP room until the previous one has become operationally mature. Tak
Chun Group is like a big family, with a low loss rate of employees. The labor
shortage problem has little impact on us.
AWS: Junkets were established by Stanley Ho way back in the 1970s.
How has their role changed in the last 40 years?
LC: Dr Ho made a number of great contributions to the VIP room business.
He developed the VIP room as a new business model for the gaming industry.
VIP rooms used to be small. They only had two or three tables.
Today, they have evolved into an enterprise model. The VIP business is all
over Macau, and some junkets even have over 100 tables. The expansion
of the existing VIP business enables the guests to have greater choice.
Guests can enjoy the “one stop” VIP service through junket operators so
that even in different casinos they can enjoy the same quality service.
AWS: The current narrative in Macau goes something like this: there’s
currently a liquidity crisis amongst the VIP operators and the measures
taken in the mainland against capital flight will exacerbate the effect
of the campaign against corruption in China. On top of that we have
the “chilling effect” of the current situation in China which sees wealthy
mainlanders avoiding flaunting their wealth in Macau’s casinos. All of
these things make the current situation very tough for junkets and we’ve
seen a number of VIP rooms close and junket operators leave the market.
Some people even say the junket model is broken and junkets are slowly
but surely dying. Perhaps in five or 10 years we will only have a handful of
the most robust junkets left or maybe even none at all. As the leader of
one of Macau’s strongest junkets you’re in a perfect position to comment
on this. What’s your view on the junket situation in Macau right now and
how it will most likely evolve over the next five years?
LC: I’m still full of confidence in the industry. It’s true the domestic anticorruption
action, bank credit and policy tightening has made China’s
economy go through a structural adjustment. It is more difficult for
Mainland enterprises to operate and visitors to Macau have less desire
for high consumption. Therefore just as business has adjusted pace in the
mainland, the junket business has also entered an adjustment period.
In the past seven years, Macau’s gaming industry peaked and the
junket business grew explosively. Gaming revenue around 2012 and
2013 was seven times higher than the world’s most famous gaming
city, Las Vegas. The main source of that income was the junket business.
Now the industry must adjust its pace so that the industry can grow
more steadily.
In the future, junkets will still be an indispensable sector in
the gaming industry. Not only do I think the junket business won’t
be eliminated, but it will actually be paid more attention by the
government. While this is happening the entire industry will become
more professional and more important under the supervision of the
government. Tak Chun Group is moving forward in this new direction.
AWS: What are your thoughts on the recent theft case involving
Dore Entertainment Group? Is this something that could happen again?
Is there a concern this could have a negative impact on other junket
operators?
LC: This issue has now entered the judicial process, so I’m not in a
position to make any direct comment.
But I think this incident is actually not a bad thing for the industry
because it can serve as an alarm to remind the industry to improve
management, strengthen monitoring and do better. I believe the
DICJ will take appropriate measures and adjustments in this matter.
The industry is also very willing to cooperate with the government to
improve in order to strengthen the public’s confidence in the gaming
industry in Macau.
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