Inside Asian Gaming

www.asgam.com EDITORIAL Headwinds blow for Asia’s online gambling industry Ben Blaschke Managing Editor We crave your feedback. Please email your comments to bb@asgam.com. W hat will the online gambling scene look like across Asia-Pacific in a decade’s time? It’s an impossible question to answer but one that is particularly pertinent given the events of the past month in Cambodia and the Philippines – Asia’s two most prominent iGaming hubs. In mid-August, Cambodia’s Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen issued a directive that the Kingdom would no longer issue new online gaming licenses and, most surprisingly, that current licenses won’t be renewed once they expire. The directive strikes right at the heart of the explosive growth seen in places like Sihanoukville where dozens of controversial new casino developments now dominate the city skyline – most with the purpose of housing online gaming operations. Under Cambodian law, a live dealer/online operation requires that online gaming takes place in a bricks and mortar casino, so acquiring a gaming license is a necessary first step before construction of a casino gets underway. According to Finance Industry Director at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, May Vann, there are currently around 200 casino licenses issued in Cambodia and another 30 pending. While not all of those 200 licenses are being utilized, Global Market Advisors’ Senior Partner Andrew Klebanow estimates there are around 100 casinos currently operational nationwide – albeit with more due to open in the coming years. Notably, licenses are only valid for one year, meaning that by no later than August 2020, the online gaming operations for which the majority of Cambodia’s casinos were built will no longer be allowed (how many of them let that small inconvenience stop them remains to be seen!) In the same week as Cambodia’s move against online gaming, Philippines gaming regulator PAGCOR announced a moratorium on the issuance of any new online gaming licenses under its Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) scheme until at least the end of 2019. According to PAGCOR, the moratorium – which will limit licenses to a maximum of 61 (58 already issued and three pending) – was necessary due to “miscommunications about POGO and the POGO hubs” as well as concerns over “social cause, security problems and legitimacy of the operations.” But the timing, coming just a few days after the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines released an official statement warning against the illegal inducement of Chinese citizens to gamble either online or in Philippines land-based casinos, was conspicuous. With China increasingly making its disapproval of online gambling in the region known, it seems that the future of Asia’s iGaming industry is as clouded as ever.