Macau could soon be home to a multi-faceted sports bar and entertainment venue, as well as hosting some of the biggest live sporting events in Asia, if gaming product supplier Asia Pioneer Entertainment has its way.
A week after first announcing plans to commence “sports and sports-related entertainment businesses,” APE Chief Executive Officer Herman Ng provided Inside Asian Gaming with further insight into the company’s ambitious expansion vision, which will involve a three-pronged approach to diversifying its business through sport.
Among APE’s ideas is the launch of a large sports bar and entertainment venue in partnership with one of Macau’s casino or hotel operators.
“It’s something like a sports bar with some creative ideas,” Ng said. “Maybe there would be a basketball court inside the venue.
“It’s a sports venue but we have so many ideas for inside including broadcasting all the popular sports events around the world but also some interesting ideas as well. When tourists come here, we want them to have more options to play around in Macau.”
Also on APE’s agenda is bringing live sporting events to Macau, with Ng pointing to UFC, the One Championship, football and even eSports as likely contenders.
Asked about recent comments by legendary boxing promotor Bob Arum singling out Macau as a possible venue to host the third meeting between heavyweight rivals Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder, Ng said, “Yes something similar – if we have the opportunity to do something like that, then APE would like to do it. We want to make something ‘wow’ for tourists. That fight you are talking about is very interesting.”
Finally, APE will look into sports sponsorship, much like Suncity Group’s sponsorship of the Macau Grand Prix, with the company set to sit down with the Macau SAR Government to discuss what opportunities might arise in the near future.
“We would be sponsoring to encourage the community, tourism and mass activities,” says Ng. “We want to merge in with the government’s idea to have more styles of entertainment.
“We have to think about what options APE has, what we need to do, and I believe that sports entertainment will help APE as a great diversification strategy that is potentially very profitable for us too.”
