Genting makes U.S. inroads

In 2018, on Genting Hong Kong’s 25th anniversary, President Colin Au summed up the company by saying, “We come from Malaysia, a small country, but we go out to the world. We open our eyes and learn new things.” That may be a bit of an understatement. Genting, which launched in 1971 with a hilltop hotel near Kuala Lumpur, has become a multinational gaming giant. The Lim family business is actually a trinity, made up of Genting Hong Kong (cruise lines and Resorts World Manila); Genting Singapore (Resorts World Sentosa); and Genting Malaysia (casinos and iGaming operations in Europe, the UK and elsewhere). The company didn’t get a toehold in the United States until 2010, when it beat out domestic operators Hard Rock and Penn National for the right to build and operate a VLT parlor in Queens, one of New York City’s five boroughs. With a customer base of more than...