The third annual ranking of the industry’s most influential people
Sponsored by: 
Some of the people in the Asian Gaming 50 – 2010 had easier starts in life than others. A few are casino gaming ‘royalty’ born into families already powerful in the industry. Most are self-made or corporate employees especially hungry for success. What they all share is this: they have kept going in their chosen career path and chosen industry despite setbacks, sometimes even seemingly against the odds.
Notable new entries this year include faces from the nascent Singapore casino industry. There are also new names from the Macau VIP baccarat sector, reflecting its major contribution to the spectacular growth of Macau’s gross revenues.
No matter what the backgrounds of the Asian Gaming 50 – 2010, they have energy and vision and have helped to make the regional industry the exciting and vibrant market it is today. Those who have departed from the list and those who have not yet appeared on it can take some comfort. Their competitive spirit has also made a contribution.
It has helped Asian gaming to be one of the most meritocratic business hierarchies found anywhere in the world. We invite you to be part of the Asian Gaming 50 – 2010 debate by emailing your comments to the editor at michael@asgam.com.
About the Sponsor
As part of the global Shuffle Master family, Shuffle Master Asia specialises in providing its casino customers products that improve table game profitability, productivity and security and increase the gaming entertainment options available to players. Its diverse product portfolio includes a full range of automatic card shufflers that can be used on virtually every card game, the industry’s most popular proprietary table games, side bets and progressives, four different e-table platforms, and traditional video slot machines with content designed for select markets. Additional information about the company is available at www.shufflemaster.com.
Associate Sponsors
Aristocrat Leisure Limited is a leading global provider of gaming solutions and is dedicated to supporting the global gaming industry. With the largest slots market share in the Asia Pacific region, operators trust Aristocrat as the preferred supplier of gaming machines, technology and total gaming solutions. In the current economic environment it’s critical for operators to have the best performing product on their floor; that’s why Aristocrat delivers product “Designed to Perform”. We look forward to the further development of the gaming industry within Asia and continue to provide excitement through new games and themes for players. We will continue to design games specifically for the Asian market and develop products that provide players with the ultimate gaming experience when they visit a casino.
Core Ranking Methodology
By their very nature, lists such as Inside Asian Gaming’s ranking of the 50 most influential people in Asian gaming are bound to incorporate elements of subjectivity. We have done our best, however, to apply a rigorous analytical methodology to arrive at the results. We enlisted a panel of independent gaming industry executives and analysts from around the region to compile the rankings. We also sought nominations from readers and visitors to our website, staging.asgam.com. The results are likely to result in lively debate and even controversy.
A number of Asia’s biggest gaming companies remain in private hands, making it difficult—if not impossible—to obtain accurate financial records. Therefore, market share and other key performance indicators were estimated after extensive discussions with peers, competitors, suppliers and customers.
We selected panellists from not only high profile casino jurisdictions such as Macau, but also emerging gaming markets around the region. We also included online operators. Not only is online gaming creating new customers and markets in Asia—online technology applications such as multi-screen display and play are also influencing the way land-based equipment such as slot machines are being designed.
Even though government agencies ultimately control and influence all regulated gaming in Asia, after much discussion, we decided to exclude politicians and regulators and focus on the commercial sector.
The initial short list of 80 individuals was put through a scoring process to arrive at the final rankings. The panellists gave each of the nominated individuals a score of between 1 and 10 on the following criteria:
1. How well known is the individual within the gaming sector in Asia?
2. How successful has the individual been historically in the gaming sector?
3. How fast has their business grown over the last 5 years?
4. What is their potential for future growth in their current gaming sub-sector and other gaming sub-sectors in Asia?
5. How successful are they financially (individually and/or company, or individual together with company, where relevant)?
6. How influential are they with the government and regulators within their jurisdictions of operations?
7. How influential are they internationally within the gaming industry (individually and/or company, or individual together with company, where relevant)?
8. How much of an innovator are they within the gaming industry?
9. How well are their products and/or services marketed and promoted?
10. How much do they own of their principal business and/or how much control do they have over their company?
11. How well positioned are they to cope with competition within their existing jurisdictions of operation and from overseas competition?
12. How do you perceive their dominance in their current major markets of operation?
Feedback from the panellists led to each question being given a specific weighting—between 90% and 115%. Further weightings were applied relating to the company the nominated individual either works for or controls. These include the company’s status (public or private), financial performance and size (in terms of both operations and market capitalisation/value), as well as the size/importance of the markets it operates in. Finally, panellists applied a further weighting for each nominated individual with respect to his or her perceived personal integrity, effectiveness in management, overall track record and foresight.
