Luring China's gamblers

Apparently, word of Macau’s gambling boom has reached Monaco, playpen of the rich in Europe, and now the Grimaldi family has its knickers in a knot.

The following is from the always-amusing newsletter of Access Asia, the Shanghai-based market research firm.

Recently, that great Olympic nation Monaco sent Prince Albert II (Grace Kelly’s son for all you Hello! readers) to check a few things out. This was the first ever trip to China by a Monacan head of state (Albert has been before but he was not officially head of state then, just a semi-employed ageing playboy).

Ostensibly the trip seemed to be something to do with the Olympics, as all these trips now are. But, in reality, Albert was interested in another sort of games altogether – persuading China ’s high rolling rich gamblers that they should choose Monaco over Macao as a place to fritter away their wealth. This trip, which has waited years, has come shortly after the Societe des Bains de Mer (SBM), Monaco’s gaming monopoly and the Prince’s main piggy bank, launched a hunt for China's wealthiest punters, and is even laying on complimentary all-inclusive travel and accommodation packages to get them to its casino rather than Las Vegas or Macao. Agents have been sent to China targeting exclusive country clubs, golf clubs and cigar bars in Shanghai , Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Beijing to identify likely "guests." Gambling accounts for 4% of the principality's revenues and underpins its all-important tourism industry.