South Africa gaming operator Sun International is setting its sights on an Asian expansion as soon as it completes its business in Latin America, specifically the merger of the company’s casino operations in the region with local casino operator Dreams.
As soon as that deal is settled, Sun International will turn its attention in the East with the hopes of gaining a foothold of the growing casino market in Asia. Sun CEO Graeme Stephens told South Africa’s BusinessDay Live that the merged entity in South America would create a platform for the company to embark on its plan to enter the Asian gaming market. He also noted that there are plenty of opportunities in that region that Sun International, although he also admitted that saying it is the easy part. Doing it is a little bit trickier.
“We are up against the gaming giants, so we might look at a casino operation as part of a large mixed-use development or take a small piece of a larger casino entity,” he said, as quoted by the South African Daily.
If Sun International is serious about venturing into Asia, the Northern Marianas could be a suitable destination. Speaking of the Pacific island, the Commonwealth of Northern Marianas Lottery has given the green light to Imperial Pacific International Holdings’ plan to create a live training center concept in Saipan that will be used to train casino workers as it waits for its integrated resort and casino to be constructed.
The training center will cost Imperial Pacific local subsidiary Best Sunshine $25 million to construct the facility and fill it up with equipment and employees. Once the facility is up and running, employees will use it for their six-month training on all the casino games Imperial Pacific plans to put inside its casino. In addition, newly hired employees will also be able to use the center to undergo non-live training and subsequently, live training of working inside a casino.
All these employees are likely to need as much training as it can get to efficiently run Imperial Pacific’s $7 billion resort and casino project. Once completed, the integrated resort and casino would become the first large-scale integrated resort on Saipan, the largest island in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.