Tiger de Cristal in Vladivostok Prepares for Asian Players

The final stage before the opening of the Tiger de Cristal in Vladivostok is coming to an end: the conquering of the Asian market may begin

A bunch of speculations concerning Tiger De Cristal, a landmark casino based in the easternmost part of the Russian Federation, have been written on the online gambling sites in Russia in the past.

• The Summit Ascent Russian casino opens August 28
• Staff-training stressed before the opening
• Tiger de Crystal targets Chinese, Korean and Japanese

The project, however, now comes to its final phase, and we are soon going to see the outcome of one of the biggest gambling investment in the Asian region. The fabulous opening of the complex is scheduled for the end of the next month, and preparations are running in an intensified fashion.

The Tiger De Cristal in Vladivostok opens new employment possibilities

The investment of one of Macau’s greatest gambling entrepreneurs, Lawrence Ho’, is soon about to become operative. Few years ago the Summit Ascent Holdings invested more than USD 500m in the so called Tiger de Cristal complex located in Vladivostok, in the Primorye entertainment Zone. It was planned to offer customers a super-equipped casino suite, a gaming floor, and a hotel with 121 luxurious rooms. The day is coming when we will have the opportunity to see the outcome of this investment. The extravagant opening of Tiger de Cristal in Vladivostok is scheduled for 28 August, after the inspections by the governmental regulatory bodies are complete and a permission for starting the operations is granted.

However, the project has already initiated a movement on the working market in the Vladivostok area. Since the Summit Ascent Russian casino comprises five VIP gaming tables, 759 slot machines and 42 tables for mass gambling, many of the staff needed to pass several courses for pre-qualification in order to appropriately proceed their future working obligations. As online gambling news in Russia note, around 700 people were trained during the year for becoming floor managers, dealers and croupiers and this number is expected to rise above 1,000 when the Tiger de Cristal complex starts with the full-power work.

The stress on the pre-qualifications of the staff, as Craig Ballentyne, chief operating officer in the complex, states, is an important aspect in the preparations for the opening. Its significance comes from the fact that Tiger de Cristal is expecting to soon become the greatest gambling center in the region. It is supposed to satisfy the gambling thirst of more than 120 million Chinese, Japanese and Korean players that live on only 2 hours flying distance from the complex.

The target costumers of Tiger de Cristal in Vladivostok

The investment in the Vladivostok region, on the east most part of the Russian Federation is shown to be a clever strategic move. It allows, as Eric Landheer, the Corporate Finance and Strategy Director of the Ho-controlled Summit Ascent Holdings Ltd, said, to target as potential costumers not only the Russian citizens but also Chinese, Japanese and South Korean players as well, expanding thus the operational market of the complex.

Several members of the senior management of the Tiger de Cristal in Vladivostok have stated to the Hong Kong economic Journal that the company is not worried by the decrease of revenues of the casinos in Macau. They stated further that the demand for gambling in Russia is very high and that a process of registration of Russian gamblers is already behind the need-to-be-done tasks of the management. The Tiger de Cristal complex will comprise 25 gambling tables for high-rollers which will be managed by a junket promoter from Macau. However, the profile on the junket operator was not revealed.

The competition that comes from China and Korea is not something that the Tiger de Cristal should be afraid of. As Landheer stated, there is only one casino resort which is opened for domestic players in South Korea which has greater revenues than all of the others operating casinos that are not opened for locals. This is an indication for the Tiger de Cristal manager that the gambling demand in South Korea is extremely high.

The situation with the Japanese market is a bit different, gambling news report. The authorities in the country have not yet legalized gambling so the only legal offer for the Japanese citizens exists outside the borders of the island. For Landheer, this is a rare opportunity for Summit Ascent and its Tiger de Cristal in Vladivostok to become forerunner in the gambling industry in the region. He is predicting a period of three to six months in which the complex will establish itself as a Mecca for the gamblers from the Northeast Asia. Depending on the performances in this period, he announced that an increase of the investment might follow.