Inside Asian Gaming

October 2008 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 43 Briefs good factor among the local audience, others gave reasons for their optimism. In Singapore, the gaming tax rate will be 12% (plus Goods & Services Tax) for VIP play and 23% (plus GST) for non-VIP play. This compares with Macau’s 35% on the gross, which when topped up by other social and development contributions rounds off to around 40% of the Macau gross.Macau currently also has greater inflationary pressures than Singapore in terms of wage costs and other non- commodity related overheads. Logging Off Taiwan’s GigaMedia Ltd says it has successfully completed the sale of its legacy cable and corporate Internet service provider business as part of its strategy of focusing on the high-margin, high-growth online entertainment sector. For the third quarter of 2008,GigaMedia adds it expects to record a one-time after-tax gain of approximately US$8 million as a result of the sale, which will be partially offset by a one-time write-off of some assets related to the Asian online game business. The company operates one of the most successful online poker rooms in the world in revenue terms. Everest Poker is marketed principally to the European market, and Everest has sponsored a number of tournaments including the European Poker Tour and the 2008 World Series of Poker. GigaMedia is now expanding its operations in Asia, targeting the market for non-casino online games in China. A potential breakthrough deal came in July when GigaMedia announced it had acquired an exclusive three-year licence forWeb distribution in China of Electronic Arts Inc’s basketball game NBA STREET Online. ‘NBA’ is consistently the most searched sports term on Baidu.com, the top search engine in China. Taiwan Casino Proposals… Taiwan is expected to publish details of its plans to legalise casinos soon. Last August, AFX News , quoting local media, reported that Taiwan could issue up to three casino permits. The maximum charter period would be set at 20 years, with operators required to pay a fee equivalent to 40% of their revenue, according to the proposal. Foreign investors would be allowed a maximum 60% stake. “Installing casinos is not the ultimate purpose; instead, it is meant to grow the tourism industry,” Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) chairwoman Ho Mei-yueh said, as reported by Taiwan’s Economic Daily News . The CEPD is due to come up with a final version of the statute governing casino operations this month, she said in a report quoted by another publication, the Commercial Times. …Lawrence Ho ‘Interested’ The assault on Melco Crown Entertainment’s share price hasn’t dampened the enthusiasm of the company’s co-chairman Lawrence Ho for gaming investments in other Asian markets. Mr Ho, who is also chairman of Hong Kong-listed Melco International Development chairman, reportedly told a seminar in Taipei: “If the Taiwan government lifts the ban on gambling, I am interested in making investments in Taiwan.” When pressed on numbers, Mr Ho was quoted in local media as saying up to HK$30 billion. He said this was similar to the amount Melco was spending in Macau, individually or through its joint venture with Australia-listed Crown Casinos. Taiwan is reportedly drafting a law to legalise gambling.President Ma Ying-jeou, who took office in May, appeared in early September to rule out casino resorts on the Taiwanese mainland, suggesting instead that outlying regions such as the Penghu Islands were a more likely setting. The Penghu Islands are the location targeted for a casino resort by development company Amazing Holdings, through its wholly owned Taiwanese subsidiary Amazing Taiwan.Other projects are also expected to vie for casino licences. AsianLogic Reaches China P2P Deal AsianLogic has signed a joint marketing and operations agreement with China’s C Y Foundation Group to create an online peer-to-peer games network, 178games.com , across 20,000 Internet cafes in China. The agreement covers the 178world portal and features the 178games platform launched by C Y Foundation in May 2007. The portal is built around a central games platform that offers daily online tournaments, an online game community, social networking and forums and prizes. AsianLogic and C Y Foundation will jointly develop a national brand image for the new platform highlighting an advanced points system, which enables winnings to be exchanged for gifts, and the platform’s ability to run non-stop tournaments. The 178games.com network is expected to launch this month, with Texas Hold ’Em and popular games such as Dou-di-zhu and Cho-da-di to be rolled out in the next few months. Macao Studio City Limits A spokesman for one member of eSun’s Macao Studio City consortium has admitted the project has funding problems. The representative of 20% shareholder CapitaLand was commenting at the 13th Annual Asian Casinos Executive Summit 2008 in Singapore. Taking the art of public relations-speak to new heights, the source told the Business Times Singapore : “Currently, the progress of the Macao Studio City project is dependent on when the site will be re-gazetted and its use extended to allow for additional hotel rooms and other entertainment activities. The pace of securing project financing will also correspond with this approval. At the same time, the current environment has also become more challenging due to the global credit crunch.” This translates roughly as:“We don’t have enough money, we’ve got to redesign the project and we don’t know yet when we’re going to get the money.” Macao Studio City