A veteran of VIP sales across Asia-Pacific, Marcus Lim has launched a company called Vault Corporation which aims to breathe new life into the VIP gaming space while addressing the KYC and compliance concerns that have plagued the sector.
Once the lifeblood of Macau’s casinos and a segment tenaciously pursued by casino operators around the world, the VIP gaming market finds itself facing unprecedented headwinds in 2023.
With mainland China’s widely touted crackdown on cross-border gambling having decimated the Macau junket industry, the narrative has long shifted away from VIP and towards mass and “premium mass” as the future of land-based gaming.
Likewise, regulatory actions taken against leading Australian casino operators Crown Resorts and Star Entertainment Group, largely due to their relationships with Asian junkets, has cast a shadow on their prospects of attracting high-wealth customers in the future.
Yet the death of VIP has been massively overstated according to Marcus Lim – the former head of VIP sales teams for leading operators Marina Bay Sands, Sands China, Crown Resorts and Star Entertainment Group – who has put his money where his mouth is by launching his own hotel and casino management agency, Vault Corporation.
“The VIP market has always been an important one that if done correctly, will garner huge top-line revenue with minimal resources,” Marcus, Vault’s founder and CEO, tells Inside Asian Gaming.
“I believe that the VIP market is still what operators who built properties that are worth billions of dollars really want and need, but the approach to tackle this lucrative segment needs to be through working with the correct partners. These partners must first understand the VIPs, not just from experience, but also by using evidence-based data, ensuring proper governance and enforcing self-regulation while helping the casinos close sales.” It was with this in mind that Marcus and his former Star team established Vault, utilizing the experiences garnered while working in Australia then applying their own methodology to address key issues impacting the VIP sector – namely compliance and risk management.
“Vault was essentially founded to help casinos and integrated resorts around the world outsource their global sales unit,” Marcus explains.
“Having worked in international sales for most of my career, I recognized that there was a much more cost-effective way for casinos and resorts to accelerate sales as well as having better risk management, which is becoming increasingly important given the current climate and regulatory headwinds.
“It was an opportunity to execute a methodology that I have been developing since 2018. I saw a gap in the industry that could help casinos and resorts increase sales while at the same time improve compliance and risk management.
“Of course, no one expected the pandemic to last as long as it did, but that also gave us time to fine-tune our plan, develop products that facilitated a better sales experience for customers and get ourselves fully licensed.
“It was two tough years, but at the same time, it ensured that we were operationally ready when travel resumed.”
While Marcus shies away from use of the word “junket operator” to describe Vault – as it does not fully portray what Vault does as a business – he is quick to point out that the services they provide remain vital to casino operators to this day.
What sets Vault apart, he says, is not only the fact that its focus is very much on compliance but that the services it provides include full KYC (Know Your Customer) and audit checks.
“In its purest form, [a junket] is really a sales job where casinos and resorts incentivize sales teams to bring customers to their properties,” Marcus continues. “That’s no different from sales jobs in any other industry, whether you’re selling cars or private wealth investment products.
“So the first thing to consider is whether junkets can be done right, without all the grey areas and bad practices they have been associated with in the past. It’s my contention that they can and must.
“VIP sales are a lifeblood for integrated resorts and casinos, everyone in the industry knows this. We need to stop operating in the dark when it comes to VIP sales and legitimize junket operations because it very much is the lifeblood of casino sales.
“Secondly, because of our ambition to do things the right way, Vault Corporation is much more than just a traditional junket operator. We do provide that service, because casinos need it, but we start with the principles of best-in-class compliance. We provide thorough KYCs and audits designed not only to comply with the bare minimum of existing regulations, but to go beyond that, so that casinos can have peace of mind that they will not run afoul of the law of the land, be it in the land they operate in or in the territories their customers come from.
“Additionally, there needs to be more effort made in non-gaming offerings, and our sales teams focus on the entire property and destination, the types of experiences VIPs desire and so on, rather than just how we can earn commission from the rolls.
“Regulations are pushing casinos to invest in this, and while this is not new and casinos have been trying to do this for the better part of the last decade, technology has enabled more precision in understanding what consumers want.
“The premium mass market has been underserved and what we would like to do at Vault is to increase the market size, rather than keep relying almost singularly on VIP sales.
“Our subsidiary, Chang Le, is a hybrid platform that is designed to attract not just VIPs, but also the mass premium market, and the first-party data we collect on our members will help us advise casinos how to improve their offerings to attract more customers to their non-gaming offerings.”
Launching last year, Vault has initially targeted a South Korean market that has vast potential through its rapidly growing foreigner-only integrated resort offering but remains largely untapped due to the pandemic and other regional headwinds.
According to Marcus, Vault already boasts a database of almost 3,000 clients in Macau, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia that are yet to be activated but stand ready to travel.
“Our online platform Chang Le facilitates a seamless membership experience, allowing members to customize the travel experience that they want,” says Marcus.
“In turn this data is captured to help Vault consult with casinos better on packaging their offerings, on top of helping them manage their risks.
“As I mentioned, we are not a traditional junket operation. We are a lot more and we intend to do all things right, reduce risks for the operators and accelerate their sales cycles.
“On top of that, given the growing scrutiny of the markets, we also have ambitions to work directly with regulators, to help them develop enforceable regulations that do not stunt the growth of the industry.
“The entire ecosystem is designed to optimize and accelerate both gaming and non-gaming revenue for the resorts in a compliant manner. In a way, we’ve been building a model that’s prepared to thrive in the current environment for casinos.”
