SJM boss has the skills to deliver counterpunch

Frank McFadden tapped to lead when the chips are down

If Macau's casino moguls are locked in an unholy scrum over Asia's gambling dollars, then who better to send to the front lines than a former rugby pro? Those could well have been gaming magnate Stanley Ho Hung-sun's thoughts two years ago when he tapped Frank McFadden to spearhead the opening of SJM Holdings' new flagship property, the HK$7.6 billion Grand Lisboa.

A one-time amateur boxer and former member of a professional French rugby squad, it was a safe bet that Mr McFadden would be able to roll with the punches in Macau's rough-and-tumble contest for business from high rollers. The 51-year-old Irishman had lived in eight different countries and built up more than two decades of experience in the gaming industry including senior roles at Casinos Austria, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ladbrokes during which he oversaw more than 60 casinos in 18 jurisdictions.

Better still, he was already in Macau. Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire chairman of Las Vegas Sands Corp, had hired him in late 2004 to oversee his newly opened Sands Macao - the first casino to challenge Mr Ho's dominance of the market after the end of his 40-year gaming monopoly.

While at Sands Mr McFadden was Mr Adelson's top executive in Macau. Before he arrived the casino was entirely reliant on walk-in 'mass market' customers, who account for only around 30 per cent of the overall market. Mr McFadden took aim at the high rollers who were Mr Ho's bread and butter and launched the Sands VIP programme.

As a result, quarterly sales of VIP chips at the Sands rose from zero to US$4.2 billion between the final quarter of 2004 and the second quarter of 2006, while operating income rose 67 per cent to US$101 million. Between April and June of 2006 the Sands won US$127.8 million on VIP baccarat - 12 per cent of all revenues from high rollers - in a year that Macau overtook the Las Vegas Strip as the biggest gaming market in the world.

Mr McFadden left the Sands in September 2006 (neither he nor the casino said why). But just two months later, he re-emerged at Mr Ho's SJM Holdings in the newly created role of president for joint ventures and business developments.