Inside Asian Gaming

December 2016 inside asian gaming 7 Cover Story resort, NagaWorld, in 2003. “You need to be wary of the regulatory environment. More often than not you’re going into an under- regulated environment. You’re going into an environment where if you have legal disputes you may not have the right environment to be successful in litigation, so you have to be aware of the risks you are undertaking.” Gaming regulation has been gaming’s buzzword in recent times, “Macau’s incredible success has resulted in operators from around the world looking for Asia’s next emerging market in the hope of finding their own golden goose.” due in part to the huge disparity in laws and processes employed by the various nations across Southeast Asia. Korea, for example, boasts 17 casinos nationwide but only one in which locals are allowed to play. Vietnam has 11 casinos of which none are yet locals friendly. Of India’s 36 states and Union territories only three allow casino gaming. And Thailand bans casinos altogether. But various factors complicate those matters further. While Korea has tried to protect its citizens by restricting locals play to just one remote property, Kangwon Land, that property makes more profit annually than the 16 foreigners-only casinos combined – around US$400 million. Vietnamese spend around US$800 million a year gambling outside of their home country, with an average of 3,000 people crossing the border to Cambodia to gamble every single day. Likewise Thailand, where border casinos in Cambodia and Laos welcome their arrivals in the thousands. Clearly all of these countries represent markets as yet either untapped or only fulfilling a tiny part of their potential, which is what makes them so attractive. But investing heavily in these markets based purely on potential is a dangerous game. Nevertheless, one company convinced it has struck gold is Silver Cambodia’s NagaWorld