Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | March 2010 34 Market Outlook D r Jack Lam, the first gaming entrepreneur allowed to run a whole Macau casino openly in tandem with his existing Macau VIP junket business, is considering moving his online betting operation away from the Philippines to Cambodia according to well-informed sources. The reason given by the sources is Dr Lam’s concern that in the Philippines taxes are allegedly being imposed on his online operation in an ad hoc way, above and beyond thepercentageof thegrossoriginally agreed with the licensing authorities. Dr Lam’s Philippines-licensed online gaming businesses are Chinese-language websites aimed at the Greater China market. Because of the sensitivity surrounding the topic of online betting in mainland China the sites are not generally advertised. Instead they are promoted via a network of marketing teams. The Philippines is the only jurisdiction in Asia to issue official online licences to companies providing online gaming outside the country’s domesticmarket. First Cagayan Leisure and Resort Corporation, a body authorised by the Philippines government to act as an online operator in its own right as well as regulator for international Philippine Showdown Who will blink first in a row over online gaming tax? Dr Jack Lam