Inside Asian Gaming

IAG AUG 2019年8月 亞博匯 63 gives operators with stronger balance sheets a greater advantage than those that are more heavily leveraged. Many of the panelists agreed the split will hover around 50/50. Understanding the dynamics of the financial constraints on large-scale projects, even those at the regional level, will be paramount as the regulatory framework is established during the next several months. This includes ensuring that both the Japanese and their operating counterparts are fully transparent in communicating the challenges on the financial end, as well as the impacts that the regulatory structure may have on the cost to the operator and the enforcement cost on the regulator. Tourism remains one of the topics that is not lost in translation as a driver, but to achieve maximum results, there needs to be thorough communication between all parties. One operator noted that tourism is “crucial in the modeling of the program,” and that “it will be incumbent to work with other prefectures and the IRs guest to discover all of Japan.” The Japanese havemade it very clear that if the IR is to be successful, it must act as a hub with spokes reaching into the greater regional area. Singapore, Las Vegas and Macau have all had successful IRs that act as tourism generators. Using gaming and non-gaming assets, IRs must represent a gateway to the rest of Japan. As the regulatory process continues to unfold over the coming months, it will be imperative for each bidder to build a strong and diverse team that properly portrays the vision of Japanese IRs to all stakeholders, ensuring that nothing gets lost in translation. Japan will likely rely on the strict regulatory structures that have already been established in Nevada, Singapore, Macau and other major jurisdictions. Each of these movements in terms of rule-making will have an impact on the 則於近期延長了其兩家運營商的牌照，在原十年期限之外再延長 十年，以利進一步的市場投資。 日本的五年期限對那些有興趣投資大型和區域性地段的運 營商增加了難度，因為這些項目的規模和覆蓋範圍將需要大量的 投資。許多公開報告估計，第一輪的投資額度要達到100億美元甚 至更高，才能在建成包括娛樂場、酒店、會展、娛樂、零售、餐飲及 其他非博彩設施在內的綜合度假村。運營商們很難在五年的期限 內實現這些設施的投資回報。 大多數如此規模的項目通常需要七年左右方才會有投資回 報，若牌照期限再從中減去兩年，將令項目的可行性變得更為複 雜。儘管有人認為，每個運營商如要參與競投還必須有一個日本 本地的合作夥伴，但這一情況將給項目所需的債務權益比率帶來 一定程度的壓力。 參與是次討論的多數與會者認為，日本銀行對這種水平的投 資持開放態度，可能成為合作夥伴。然而由於期限限制及此條件 下借貸的成本，將會有多少國際資金流入這個市場仍是一個沒有 答案的問題。相較槓桿率高的運營商，那些資產負債表更為強健 的運營商或許擁有更大的優勢。很多與會者認為這個比例可能會 在50/50左右徘徊。 隨著未來數月內監管框架的建立，了解大型項目、即使是區 域一級項目的財政約束動態將尤為重要。這包括了確保日本企業 及其運營對手在財務挑戰、監管架構對於營運者成本的影響、及 監管執法成本的影響等方面，雙方要毫無保留的溝通。 各方皆認為應該以旅遊業作驅動，但若想取得最大的效果， 則需各方之間進行充分深入的溝通。一位運營商指出，旅遊業在「 該項目的建模中至關重要」，「與各當地政府合作，引領綜合度假 村客人深入探索整個日本，是運營商義不容辭的責任。」 日本已明確表示，如果綜合度假村想要取得成功，就必須充 當一個旅遊中心，並輻射到更廣大的地區。新加坡、拉斯維加斯、 澳門都有成功的先例，那裡的綜合度假村為旅遊業發展提供了強 專欄