What Chinese high rollers want

Apparently there is something that your average Chinese high roller and myself have in common.

Neither of us like being charged for a cup of coffee.

So says David Chiu, Hong Kong billonaire property tycoon and developer of the $3 billion Queen’s Wharf casino resort planned to open in Brisbane (Australia) in 2022.

According to Chiu, who recons he’s got a pretty good handle on what how Chinese VIP players think,

“High rollers drop $2 million, but they are very concerned about being over charged for a coffee. For the Chinese it’s just as important they get a shark fin soup in a Chinese restaurant as it is a private jet turning up in Shanghai.”

They’re not easy people to deal with. But if a casino wants to make money they need to get over this hurdle because as Chiu puts it, “they are great. They lose a lot of money. In pure numbers, they are good.”

Chiu has been educating Echo executives on the idiosyncrasies of this luctrative market. Echo will be managing Queen’s Wharf once built and Chiu is hoping this management will include plenty of pandering to the needs of VIPs from China.

He revealed his insights in an interview with local paper the Brisbane times.

He is also of the opinion that despite the slowdown in Macau, China’s VIP playing market has a lot more steam left in it yet. He sees Beijing’s corruption crackdown and the resulting malaise in Macau as an opportunity for other jurisdictions to get a piece of the action.

“China’s growth is slowing down. But it’s no big deal, it is just getting more mature. We feel it will come back. There will be more disposable income – and one thing we do know is that the Chinese love to gamble. That will not change.”

So invest in casinos, not coffee shops.