Inside Asian Gaming

IAG MAR 2020年3月 亞博匯 28 COVER STORY AWS: Let’s look at international expansion. You’ve shown an interest in Japan. EKR: Yes. It’s becoming a bit of a joke, though. AWS: How so? EKR: Well, the process is pretty much muddled still and nobody really knows what’s going on. And the investment numbers people are talking about are just so big. I know in Japan pachinko is very popular, but do they actually play baccarat? We don’t see much of that here, even though there’s a lot of Japanese in the Philippines. You don’t see that much anywhere actually, so there are still question marks. Is it going to be an integrated resort with a massive floor of pachinko? Is that how it is going to end up? There are still a lot of questions to be answered. AWS: There is no doubt the landscape in Japan is changing almost daily. How do you navigate that as an operator? EKR: It’s hard, a prefecture will be going for an IR and then they suddenly back off. Some of them are very serious, but the numbers are quite mind boggling. AWS: Bloomberry is one of three companies currently linked to Wakayama. Why did you choose Wakayama and would you consider other locations? EKR: We would definitely consider other locations, it’s just that Wakayama seems determined to develop an IR whereas some of the others are kind of iffy. Tokyo doesn’t want one, Yokohama maybe, maybe not. Chiba said they wanted one, and now they say they don’t want one. So what is this process anyway? Where’s the clarity? It’s a US$10 billion investment. I don't know, if I had US$10 billion sitting on me, if I would build that casino. So who knows really? AWS: What message would you give to the Japanese government? EKR: To come up with a very clear process, how they are going to shortlist candidates and locations. Are we going to end up with 20 IRs in Japan or just four or five? What can the market absorb? These are unknowns. It could be the greatest thing in the world, right? Nobody knows. 通等因素，從北到西南很難到達。因此我們認為那裏存在巨大的 市場。它將直接覆蓋到城際交通便利的布拉坎和甲米地。 卓弈：奎松市市長曾在去年公開表示，想徵收賭場入場費。您對此 有何看法？ EKR： 我想這事多少已經過去了。她當時是想對奎松市的市民收 費。我覺得這是需要監管機構去處理的事情。而非我們。 卓弈：談到國際擴張方面，您曾表示過對日本有興趣。 EKR： 是的。不過這事兒已經變得有點像玩笑了。 卓弈：此話怎講？ EKR： 整個過程還很混亂，沒有人真正知道發生了甚麼事。人們所 談論的投資額是如此之大。 我知道彈珠機在日本很受歡迎，但是 他們真的會去玩百家樂嗎？儘管菲律賓有很多日本人，但在我們 這裏卻看不到太多日本人玩百家樂。事實上您在任何地方都看不 見太多的日本人玩百家樂，因此還有許多類似的未解之謎。日本 的綜合度假村會成為一個擁有大量彈珠機區域的地方嗎？那樣才 是最終的結局嗎？仍有很多問題尚需解答。 卓弈：無疑，日本的情況幾乎朝令夕改。您作為營運商會怎樣應 對呢？ EKR： 很難。一個正在申請IR的縣突然之間就退出了。他們之中 還是有一部分很認真的，但談到投資金額就的確令人吃驚了。 卓弈：Bloomberry是現時屬意和歌山的三間公司之一。為甚 麼選擇和歌山？會考慮其他地點嗎？ EKR： 我們當然會考慮其他地點，只是和歌山似乎有決心要開 發一間IR出來，而其他地方則不太確定。東京不想開發，橫濱則 也許想也許不想。千葉曾經說過想要，但現在又說不要。那麼這 個過程到底是甚麼呢？透明度在哪裡？這將是100億美元的投 資。我不知道自己如果有這100億美元的話是否會建造那間賭 場。誰又真正說清楚呢？ 卓弈：你會想向日本政府傳達甚麼信息？ EKR： 要制定一個非常清晰的流程，包括他們將如何選擇候選 人及決定位置。最終日本會有20間IR，還是只會有4或5間？市 場需求量有多大？這些都是未知之數。這有可能是全球最棒的 綜合度假村呢，不是嗎？誰說得實呀。