Blossoming Future in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is well known as a treasure for international tourists, with its rich colonial heritage, bountiful beaches, tea plantations, mix of religion and culture, and much more. In this issue we catch up with Simon Best, General Manager of Operations at Bally’s Casino Colombo in the heart of Sri Lanka’s capital.

You’ve been in the casino gaming industry for more than three decades. Your roles have taken you to various unique locations around the world. What led you into the industry? Sheer accident. I had been travelling around Europe for a year with a friend working on the boats in the Aegean and then in the USA working in Florida followed by a return to London for a winter break. We had three months before going to Spain to again work on the boats as we had both been heavily involved in sailing where we grew up in Cornwall and even entered into the Cowes yacht race in 1976. I saw an advert for the Golden Nugget Casino in Shaftsbury Avenue, London for trainee Dealers and it was paying £99 a week so I thought that would be a good fill in job for three months. Very soon after starting at the Nugget, I realized that I liked the job, lifestyle, money, casinos in general and the people in them. When my friend went off to Spain I stayed at the Nugget and 38 years later I am still enjoying the casino industry.

After the Golden Nugget I worked in Sun City Bophuthatswana, Southern Africa then various casinos in Australia, New Zealand, Nepal, Burma, India and Sri Lanka. I have also worked in allied fields in the casino supply industry in Asia, consulted for Aristocrat, a major international gaming machine and worked in the cash counting and Cash In Transit (CIT) parts of the broader gaming industry.

What path did you take leading you to Bally’s Colombo?

Having worked in Asia off and on for the last 10 years, I have always been intrigued by the way they operated in this part of the world. So when a good friend in Macau, who has ties to the owner and senior management of Bally’s, asked if I was interested in a role here, I jumped at the chance.

Sri Lanka had also been on my bucket list as I had cousins who were tea planters here in the 1930 and 40’s. One of them, Willoughby Greaves Beauchanmp was appointed the Commanding Officer of the Ceylon Naval Volunteer Force (CNVF) in 1938. So I was very happy when I traveled up to Nuwara Eliya in tea country and stayed at the same hotel my cousins used to stay at when they came to town. I also went to the tea factory where one of

them was the Manager, and it is now a 5 star Heritance Hotel.

My family came over late last year and we spent 2 weeks travelling around Sri Lanka visiting Kandy, Sigiyara, Ella, Yalla National Park where I took some fantastic pictures of a Leopard (if I say so myself) and then finished off sitting on a beach in Hikkaduwa for 5 days.

I can highly recommend Sri Lanka for its casino offerings as well as for a great holiday and one of the best parts of our trip was the train ride from Kandy to Ella, which is billed as one of the best train rides in the world, and it truly lives up to that boast.

Regarding Bally’s Colombo, how does it rank in terms of casinos in Sri Lanka?

The only casinos in Sri Lanka operate in Colombo and Bally’s www.ballyscolombo.com is the biggest of the three casino by a large margin with 100 tables, online gaming www.ballysbet.com gaming machines and multi terminal electronic table games.

Does the group have additional casinos in Sri Lanka?

Yes we operate two of the three casinos here in Sri Lanka so along with Bally’s we have our sister property Bellagio’s.

What is the size of the casino in terms of electronic gaming and table games?

We have 100 gaming tables and of that 60 are Baccarat and 30 Roulette tables with the rest made up of Blackjack, Texas, Hold’em and other Poker derivatives and then some Asian centric games such as Sabong Cards (think Casino War) Andhar Bahar, Teen Patti and Sic Bo

We also operate 48 gaming machines offering international manufacturers and games and also have 14 multi terminal stations offering either single zero Roulette or Baccarat.

We have a mass market area, VIP and a recently introduced VVIP area called “Infinity” and we offer a range of options for individuals or groups including regular cash chip tables along with non-negotiable or rolling commissions dependent on the client’s requests.

We also offer a wide range of packages for individuals subject to their buy in, length of stay and games to be played along with a large spread of table maximums and Baccarat table differentials which are amongst the most generous to be offered in this part of the world.

What are the preferred games at Bally Colombo?

Certainly Baccarat is the major game here at Bally’s to cater for the ever growing popularity of this game from our wide circle of Asian centric players, then Roulette comes in 2nd with this game very popular with our Indian players.

Where does the casino draw it’s customers from? Are local Sri Lankans allowed to gamble?

We have a very small number of local players at Bally’s and the majority of our players come from a diverse range of countries including Pakistan, UAE, Malaysia, Singapore, China and of course India which is on our doorstep. We are only a short plane ride away from many southern Indian cities. I am told on a clear day you can see India from the northernmost part of Sri Lanka.

Bally’s Colombo also offers Online Gambling. What markets does this reach, and has it had an impact on guests coming into the casino?

While www.ballysbet.com is a nascent part of the business, our online gaming has a customer base at present which is mainly from India with a scattering of players from the Middle East, Pakistan, Malaysia etc.

This part of the business has only complimented our existing player base and there hasn’t been any cannibalisation of revenue from our live tables.

At present we offer Baccarat, Roulette and Andhar Bahar to our online gaming customers but we are looking to expand our product offering in the future.

What are the non-gaming options at the casino? Are there non-gambling guests that frequent these events and offerings?

In addition to the casino offering we have regular dance packages and entertainment offerings each night of the week. Then for special occasions of which we find many to celebrate, we ramp up the entertainment for events such as Christmas, New Year, Chinese New Year, Eid Mubarak, Indian festivals such as Holi and Diwali, Bally’s Anniversary, Indian and Sri Lankan National Days and International singing competitions. As I’m calling Australia home nowadays, I know my work is done here when we celebrate Melbourne Cup, the race that stops a nation!!!!

Entertainment is a mixture of local, Indian and International dance groups and singers. We recently held a “Miss Bally’s” competition with all the entrants being recent Miss England contestants, and I was lucky enough to be one of the judges.

We also have a restaurant for our guests where they can experience local, Indian and continental dishes. With the local dishes you need to be careful as they can be quite hot.