Tribal-owned Hard Rock to aggressively push its brand
THINK of places with slot machines and poker tables and immediately top gaming destinations like Las Vegas and Macau come to mind.
But when it comes to gaming revenue, even the combined US$12.4 billion ($18.2 billion) of those two cities last year dwarfs in comparison to the whopping US$27.8 billion raked in by the American tribal-owned casino industry.
Leading the way is the Seminole Tribe of Florida, which made the headlines in March with an astonishing US$965 million takeover of Hard Rock International.
And having secured the purchase of that famous chain of rock-themed tourist attractions — comprising Hard Rock's cafes, hotels, casinos and music memorabilia stores — the Seminole tribe is now ready to make deeper inroads into Asia.
Singapore — with its upcoming two integrated resorts (IR) with casinos — has already fallen under the radar of Seminole's expansion plans in Asia, its gaming operations chief executive officer James Allen told Today.
The gaming industry veteran is currently in Singapore for a three-day business visit, having already visited both Manila and Macau earlier this week.
"We have been very successful in the Far East for many years, and we want to re-launch some of our products in this part of the world. We want to rekindle our relationship with the franchise partners and have them know that we seriously want to take our brand to a higher level," said Mr Allen.
"The name 'Hard Rock' has been around for 36 years and survived that test of time, so it could use some re-energising," he added.
Singapore hotelier Ong Beng Seng's Hotel Properties Limited (HPL) owns the franchise for Hard Rock Café in all of Asia, excluding Japan.
Singapore will open its first Hard Rock Hotel in 2010, as one of six hotels being built at Resorts World at Sentosa.
The Hard Rock Café at Cuscaden Road has been in operation since 1990, but Mr Allen has ruled out the possibility of opening more outlets in the same city.
Instead, the plan is to meet with local partners and discuss ways for Hard Rock to take advantage of the current tourism boom in Singapore, he said.
"Singapore was a city that used to have certain perceptions, but now it's one of the most beautiful places to visit.
"It's a gateway to Asia and we feel we can tap on this to grow our presence," he said.
Seminole now controls 122 Hard Rock Cafes and nine Hard Rock Hotel resorts in 47 countries. Three more hotels are being constructed and 25 are in the planning stages, said Mr Allen.
In South-east Asia, the latest Hard Rock Hotel will be built in Penang, a joint development between Hard Rock International and HPL Hotels & Resorts.
In early 2009, a Hard Rock Hotel and Casino will open in Macau — opposite American billionaire Sheldon Adelson's Venetian Macau — as part of the four-hotel City of Dreams Project. These will add to the two existing Hard Rock hotels in Bali and Pattaya.
While casino gaming is Seminole's forte, operating a casino in Singapore is out of the question for now, said Mr Allen, due to the 10-year exclusivity deal guaranteed by the Singapore Government to both the IRs.
The tribe, with a population of 3,300 living on or off Florida reservations, opened the first Native American-owned casino in the US in 1979.
Gaming is widely regarded as a lucrative business for tribes, with casinos often located on less desirable plots of land. According to the National Indian Gaming Association website, there are more than 220 tribes in 28 American states that have gaming operations, accounting for over 406 Indian-owned gaming facilities.
Income from gaming operations accounts for more than 90 per cent of all Seminole tribe income, and in turn, gaming proceeds fund more than 90 per cent of the tribe's expenditures, including education, healthcare, housing, economic development, and other social services.
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