Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming January 2016 36 in these regards. Short-term gains may result in longer-term pain if appropriate regulatory and operational policies are not implemented and followed. The aggregate of all of these concerns culminated in announcements made by Edmund Ho, the Chief Executive of the Macau SAR, before the Macau legislature on April 22. He proposed that there should be no new gaming concessions given beyond the six that already exist, that no additional land should be permitted for casino development beyond what is already in the pipeline with existing concessionaires, that controls should be imposed restricting non-concessionaires from operating casinos, and that junket commission rates should be regulated. He also indicated that these directives were in accordance with the wishes of Beijing. Whether these actions will indeed stabilize Venetian Macao The overwhelming success of casinos in Macau has raised the ante for gaming in Asia. Many countries are now considering either introducing or expanding gaming in Asia. Global Gaming Business has tapped into our sources to uncover the facts about where gaming is going in countries that currently do not have casinos on the Pacific Rim. CHINA There has been no official indication that the government of China is interested in the introduction of any kind of gaming on the mainland other than what already exists, essentially the lottery. Macau will be the country’s casino enclave for the foreseeable future, and even there, the growth of gaming is now being stifled. The Chinese government is very sensitive to perceived social problems connected to gaming. Crackdowns over online gaming are ongoing and internet oversight is not unusual in China. In fact, China has cracked down on casino visitation to neighboring nations offering border casinos, especially in North Korea and Vietnam. One area where gaming could be legalized near China is Mongolia. Sandwiched between China and Russia, Mongolia may try to capitalize on the money generated by large-scale exploitation of natural Asia Update Gaming progresses in non-gaming Asian jurisdictions resources surrounding the sparsely populated nation by introducing casinos. JAPAN Should gaming become legal in Japan, it would rapidly become the jewel in the crown of the Asian gaming industry. Some gaming is already legal. Wagering is permitted on horse, motorboat, bicycle and motorbike racing. Other betting activities such as the lottery, pachinko and mahjong are classified as “amusements” and are legal. The major hurdle to the legalization of gaming in Japan appears to be organized crime, or as it is know in Japan, the yakuza. Illegal casinos exist under the operation of the yakuza and payouts are often made using the same “exchange of goods for money” policies used by the pachinko parlors. A movement is on, however, to legalize casinos in Japan to benefit the government and de-emphasize the yakuza. As is the custom in Japan, however, most of the discussions are being held behind the scenes and few really understand what is going on. A conference was held last September, but few government officials participated so most of the discussions were pure speculation rather than hard facts. But undoubtedly there is serious consideration to legalized casinos, despite the silence from government circles. Sources tell Global Gaming Business that three to five mega-casinos are being discussed in some of Japan’s major cities. Most observers expect something to break in the next year and casinos will be introduced into Japanese society within the next five years. TAIWAN While the Taiwanese legislature last year put off consideration of any bill that would permit legal casinos in that nation, President-elect Ma Ying-Jeou has plans to open up the island nation’s gambling business by revising the current Statute for Offshore Island Development. Many expect that the first casinos will be located on the Penghu island in the Taiwan Strait to improve a sluggish economy and attract tourism from across Asia, but principally from mainland China. Nonetheless, there is a move to install gaming on Taiwan itself. Miaoli County has commissioned an engineering study on local sites for a gaming district. The completed report identified an 800-hectare piece of land near a salt refinery in Tongsiao Township as a likely spot. The fact that Miaoli County is not on Penghu but on Taiwan proper did not deter local officials, who point out that they are ideally situated midway between northern and southern Taiwan, with good rail and highway networks. President-elect Ma is not known to have been in favor of casinos elsewhere than Penghu. On Penghu, Larry Woolf, president of casino management company Navegante, is a longtime partner with Amazing Holdings, a land-development company. The group has 27 acres of beachfront property just waiting for a casino resort project. The land was acquired over the last three years during complicated negotiations for very small plots of land. Plans for the site as they now stand include a 600-room hotel with a 130,000-square-foot casino. Amazing Holdings Chief Operating Officer Carl Burger said the site could host two or three resorts. THAILAND Long a candidate to join the casino ranks, gaming in Thailand has been thwarted by several obstacles in the past, not the least of which was a coup that toppled a previous leader who favored the introduction of gaming. Like most Asians, Thais are inveterate gamblers. If they’re not gambling in illegal casinos in Bangkok and beyond, they’re crossing the border into Blast from the Past June 2008