Inside Asian Gaming

IAG SEP 2019年9月 亞博匯 64 FEATURES I t is now five months since the first signs of a protest uprising emerged in Hong Kong and almost three months since they escalated significantly on 9 June 2019. The protests were initially aimed at an extradition bill proposed by the Hong Kong government in February that would allow the detention and extradition by local authorities of people wanted in territories with which Hong Kong currently has no specific extradition agreement – most notably China. There is a fear among some Hongkongers that the bill represents a significant move by China to exert greater control over the SAR. However, as the protests have continued, they have also broadened their reach to encapsulate a much broader anti-government rhetoric as well as an expanded list of demands that include not only a complete withdrawal of the extradition bill but also “universal suffrage for the Chief Executive and Legislative Council elections” and various protections for protestors. The protests have also grown in scale, reaching a tipping point on 12 August at Hong Kong International Airport where protesters staged a blockade that forced hundreds of flights in and out of the airport to be cancelled over the course of three days. Not surprisingly, the escalation of the Hong Kong protests and their interference with major transport routes quickly impacted investor sentiment in Macau, promptingWynn Resorts CEOMatt Maddox to comment, “When you have hundreds of flights canceled out of Hong Kong and some reluctance to travel, I do think that’s impacting the premium end of the business.” Wynn Macau President Ian Coughlan added, 自 香港首次出現抗議活動跡象已經過去了五個 月，而示威活動自2019年6月9日大幅升級以來 迄今也有三個月有餘。 示威活動旨在反對香港政府於2月提出的一項 法案，該法案允許香港政府將被指控犯罪的人 扣押並送往與香港尚未簽訂具體引渡協議的地區——尤其是中國 內地。一些香港人擔心該法案代表著中國政府將加大對香港特別 行政區的控制力度。 然而，隨著示威活動的繼續，示威者提出了更廣泛的反對政 府的言論及擴大了他們的請求範圍，當中不僅包括要求完全撤回 修例議案，還包括要求「對行政長官及立法會實行普選」及要求撤 回暴動定性和承諾給予示威者多項保護。 示威活動的規模也日漸擴大，於8月12日在香港機場達到臨 界點。在那裡，示威者令到香港機場陷入癱瘓，三日內有數百架進 出港航班被迫取消。 香港示威活動的升級對主要交通幹道造成的干擾也迅速影 響了澳門投資者的情緒。永利渡假村首席執行官Matt Maddox評 論稱，「當數百個進出港航班被取消、造成人們不願出行時，我認 為這會對高端業務會造成影響。」 永利澳門總裁Ian Coughlan補充稱，「很明顯，香港正在發生 的事情肯定會在短期內影響業務。港澳之間的人員流動受到干 擾，看來這種情況至少在未來幾週內會持續下去。」 然而，初步跡象顯示，抗議活動對澳門博彩收入的影響遠沒 有人們最初擔心的那麼大。摩根大通的分析師DS Kim、Jeremy An和Christine Wang在一份報告中披露了這一情況，稱由於夏日 假期前後的季節性因素很強，「賭場客流量尚未出現明顯放緩。」 「博彩總收入（GGR）會受到多少拖累？」他們表示，「我們估 計香港的示威活動可能會令澳門的GGR下降在個位數中段，但隨 著人們通過其他方式繼續前往澳門，這一數字應該會逐漸消失。」 摩根大通是根據遊客的普遍訪澳趨勢得出上述數字。這家投