Having ceased all international marketing in the wake of the regulatory inquiries into its historical operations in 2020 and 2021, Australia’s Crown Resorts is back on the global stage.
Crown CEO, David Tsai, confirmed Wednesday that the company is now active in a handful of key Asian jurisdictions and continues to explore further expansion, with international play viewed as one of its largest potential growth areas.
“We are back and we are now hiring,” Tsai explained during a Fireside Chat at the IAG EXPO in Manila. “We have set up our teams again focused on international marketing and we’re actually going to countries again – very diligently and very carefully – and marketing to and engaging our customers.
“It’s actually been fantastic because I’ve been on some of these trips myself and we talk to customers who used to come to Crown many years ago, or maybe they’ve never been, and there is a tremendous amount of excitement and to be honest fondness for the Crown group. A lot of our customers want to come back.”
According to Tsai, Singapore and Malaysia have led the charge for Crown in this new post-junket era, while locations like Japan and Vietnam are currently on the radar.
“Obviously, because of some of the things that happened, every country that we go into we’re being very careful in analyzing from a legal, risk and compliance standpoint to make sure of what activities we can do in a country and what we cannot,” he continued. “But there has absolutely been a lot of excitement.
“The most common thing I hear from our international customers is, ‘I didn’t know Crown was still open for business or that you still welcomed us.’ So we do need to explain to them that it’s a new era right now, we’ve regained suitability, we’ve brought back premium fare rebate programs, we’re going back out with credit and we are actually sending teams out again.
“But that doesn’t concern me because it doesn’t take that long for us to change that perception.
“Like I said, we didn’t have anyone talking to customers internationally, we didn’t have international marketing teams and we didn’t have program play, so we want to turn that around and we’re going to very actively do it. It’s unfortunate, but it also creates a tremendous opportunity for growth. It means that we’re very optimistic about bringing people back, acquiring new customers – but we need something to offer.”
Asked to what extent international play can move the needle for Crown, which last year reported its first profit in six years, Tsai said the company could “probably multiply [revenue] by several multitudes because, we don’t have a lot right now. I’m not going to give you particular numbers, but we do think it’s a meaningful avenue for growth, clearly.
“There are certain benefits as well – with international play and program play there are tax benefits to help incentivize and give some of that back to the player. So obviously it’s something that we’re very focused on.
“The core of our business is still going to be our Australian business. Right now, more than 90% of our business is local as we are obviously a true Australian casino, but the high active growth area is going to be international business and we’re not shying away from that.”
With that in mind, Tsai noted that Crown is actively investing in a significant uplift program of the company’s flagship Crown Melbourne resort with a view to providing a more attractive and diversified experience that continues to entice customers back to the business.
In February, Crown and its owner, US private equity giant The Blackstone Group, announced a AU$200 million (US$142 million) redevelopment initiative that will include 15 new restaurants, bars and casual eateries plus a major revitalization of its famed riverside “Riverwalk” – described as the biggest investment into Crown Melbourne in almost 30 years. Until recently, Crown Melbourne hadn’t seen a new restaurant opening in over a decade.
Yet the investment won’t stop there.
“We know that we need entertainment and retail work,” Tsai observed. “We’re renovating our theaters so we can bring in great Broadway-style musicals but that AU$200 million (US$145 million) is going to go pretty quick, and we know we’re going to have to invest more.”
Asked if it would be a case and waiting to see how the first round of investment performs before planning the pathway forward, Tsai said, “Absolutely not. I don’t think I’m patient enough and I don’t think our shareholders are patient enough.
“We obviously have to make sure that we have the right plan, but we feel confident in our plan. And as we develop more ideas and secure more partnerships, we will be able to secure more funding. So, this is not a wait and see approach. We are all in. We’re trying to move as fast as possible but we have to do it right.
“The worst thing you can do, and I’ve seen resorts all around the world do this, is you rush into spending money thinking as soon as you spend that money it’s going to work. We’re doing this in a very diligent way, but we absolutely want to move as quickly as possible.”
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