Inside Asian Gaming

January 2017 inside asian gaming 43 REGIONAL BRIEFS Assembly members traveled to Singapore in mid-December on a fact-finding mission in which they visited the country’s two integrated resorts – Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and former regional revitalization minister Shigeru Ishiba have also visited and expressed admiration for how they are run. Singapore’s casinos have a number if strict policies designed to prevent problem gambling among its citizens. They include an entry fee of SG$100 (around MOP$550) to enter for a 24-hour period, or SG$2,000 for an annual pass. People can also apply for self-exclusion, have family members ask for exclusion or be excluded by law – the latter applying to anyone receiving financial aid from the government, legal aid or to anyone that is either bankrupt or more than six months behind in their rent. Around 317,000 people were listed as excluded fromSingapore’s casinos as of September 2016, including about 246,500 foreign nationals and 21,000 citizens and permanent residents under the self-exclusion scheme. MGM Cotai to aid Macau recovery TA has already pledged to boost its anti-corruption presence in 2017 and will have two officers onsite at the Australian open to keep an eye on any suspicious betting activity. They will include an “information and intelligence officer” and a “safety and risk manager” who will be tasked with keeping an eye out for suspicious activity such as “court-siding”, where spectators relay real-time information to betting syndicates located elsewhere. Ironically, it is partnerships between sporting organizations and sportsbooks such as William Hill that are most effective in combatting such illegal activities. Japan legislators eye Singapore casino model Japan’s lawmakers are looking to Singapore to provide a blueprint for how the country’s casino legislation might take shape. Having finally passed long-awaited legislation to legalize casinos only last month, 2017 shapes as a huge year for the gaming industry in Japan with the Diet to introduce a second bill that sets out the precise framework. But with widespread concerns among the general public over issues such as problem gambling, it is Singapore that Japanese officials believe could provide the best model. As reported by the Japan Times , a group of 12 Osaka Municipal Macau’s recovery is well underway and will only benefit further from the opening of MGM Cotai in 2017, according to international ratings agency Fitch. In the wake of five consecutive months of rising gross gaming revenue for the city, Fitch Senior Director Alex Bumazhny said that a greater focus on mass market and the opening of new properties in 2016 had proved a positive for Asia’s gaming hub. “Macau gaming, now firmly at the bottom of the cycle, has better long-term prospects given investments in new supply, improvements in mass market indicators and under-penetration of gaming throughout the rest of Asia,” he said. “That assumes the revenue improvements seen recently stick and then increase slightly when MGM Cotai opens. “The mass-market segment appears to be responding well to new supply so far, with year-on-year gaming revenue for this segment increasing 4% in third-quarter 2016. “Macau operators’ commentary on their long beleaguered VIP segments started to turn positive this fall.”