Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming February 2017 4 A change is as good as a holiday www.asgam.com I vividly remember the first time I came to Macau, almost a decade ago in 2008. Having somewhat established myself amongst the poker community as having at least some idea what I was talking about, I was flown over by PokerStars as their travelling journalist for the inaugural Asia Pacific Poker Tour Macau main event – tasked with finding enough stories of interest to sell to media outlets back in Australia. No easy task in itself, I can assure you! But I digress. The APPT event was held at the old Grand Waldo, so naturally that is where I was housed as well. I still recall the countless problems I had simply trying to get my in- room WiFi to provide any sort of signal. On the third morning of my stay, I decided to take a morning stroll to see the surrounding landscape. After all, I’d heard a lot about the Venetian (pictured) and given it was the only other structure of significance I could see anywhere nearby I flagged it as my destination. As it turned out, the Venetian was a lot further away that I thought – big mistake in the hot Macau sun! I did, however, wander past a massive construction site that piqued my interest along the way. I didn’t know much about it at the time, but the open, cavernous concrete floors rising high into the sky would eventually become the architectural marvel that is Galaxy Macau. The reason I recount this story is because it highlights just how fast things change in the gaming industry. Back then, the Venetian rose like a mountain out of the Cotai landscape because there was simply nothing else of its ilk nearby. Now it is surrounded by resorts – Sands Cotai Central and City of Dreams across the road, the Parisian next door, Studio City one block further down – not to mention Galaxy and the recently opened Wynn Palace also nearby. The Cotai Strip has come to life, rising from the swampland much like Las Vegas rose from the desert before it. This month the IAG team will be heading to London to attend ICE Totally Gaming, widely acknowledged as the world’s premier gaming exhibition and trade show where the who’s who of the gaming world will come together to do business. There will, quite literally, be hundreds of exhibitors present from every sector of the gaming industry imaginable. And every single one of them will have new and exciting products to show – some with a brighter future than others but all proving that this is an industry full of innovation and always striving to hit upon the next “game changer.” With all of the regulatory ups and downs, economic influences, social considerations and a customer base that refuses to stand still, the gaming industry doesn’t always have it easy, but rest assured the world would be a much duller place without it! Ben Blaschke We crave your feedback. Please email your comments to [email protected] . Editorial