Galaxy Entertainment Group’s COO, Kevin Kelley, says that the group is firmly focusing its efforts on Macau – not currently placing boots on the ground in new emerging markets such as Thailand and the UAE.
The group aims to leverage all market segments, with continued support of VIP play via junkets, even as younger customers encourage more electronic table game play. But a gross gaming revenue rebound similar to 2019 is “a work in progress”.
What are your expectations for the Macau GGR comparison to 2019?
I think it’s work in progress, you know, you got to think about the fact that a giant chunk of the GGR has gone away now that the VIP business has changed so much. There are some very healthy segments of the business as you can see through premium mass. And I think that’s going to continue to grow and get better. But you just gotta grind every day.
We have the luxury of being able to focus on all market segments, we can see how our products allow us to play at the highest level of the market. And it allows us to play at the mass level. And now, with all of these new emerging markets – with MICE and entertainment, the kind of facilities that you see here at GICC – allow us to compete fairly well within those segments as well.
What is Galaxy’s relationship going to be with junkets?
As I indicated in my keynote speech, the junket landscape has changed dramatically, you know, in the last three years, and albeit, you know, it’s become much smaller, it’s still a segment of the business that we feel is valuable to the industry and valuable to Galaxy Entertainment. And therefore, we’re going to continue to focus on promoting and nurturing that business to whatever level that can go.
It’s a little bit too soon to say. But again, you know, we were the number one VIP operators in the world at one point in time. I think, obviously, we know the space pretty well. And we continue to support it in his current state.
What’s the strategy for mass, Premium mass and direct VIP?
I prefer not to get into the numbers. But at the end of the day, obviously, we all know that mass and premium mass is what’s driving everybody’s business in the future. And so naturally, I think we want to put the appropriate weighting into the areas that were going to drive the biggest results for us. And therefore, I think we weigh heavily, obviously, in our mass and premium mass and premium direct segment.
Expectations for growth in the electronic gaming segment?
I think it comes back to making sure that there’s great product to inspire and entice the new customers, as I, you know, spoke to in my keynote address, I really believe that when you see the new customers that are coming to Macau, much younger, less demanding in terms of a gaming experience, but more event demanding in terms of the non gaming experience.
We believe that they want to gravitate to more of a comfortable, and maybe not such an intimidating experience as table games. And therefore we see the electronic gaming market as being very bright and very lucrative for us. And the future means you have to operate them properly. We have to have the right product in the right place merchandise well, in order to create an attractive and compelling experience for customers.
Will Galaxy be reshaping its gaming floor to focus on ETGs?
We’re always reshaping our gaming floor. It’s constantly evolving, based on where the question the markets are headed. And I think you know, we do a pretty good job of trying to always put the customer in our shoes and do what we need to do for the customer. And obviously, as the electronic games segment continues to grow, we’ll make those modifications.
Does Galaxy have any other aspirations for another Asian IR?
I think we’re always have our eye on potential opportunities. As you know, we spent quite a bit of time in Japan. And we have kind of a wait and see perspective on Japan now. Obviously, you know, there’s all kinds of other things going on between the UAE and Thailand and other places like that. We always have an ear to the ground.
