Inside Asian Gaming

IAG MAR 2020年3月 亞博匯 60 COLUMNISTS ONLINE GAMING Jason Ader, former board member at Las Vegas Sands, told CNBC the recent virus outbreak has pushed gamblers to illegal online gambling and to the only market within Asia where online gambling is regulated: the Philippines. “Daily online gambling is up 90% over the Lunar New Year holiday compared to last year,” he said. Today online gaming is widespread around the world and is a reality Macau cannot ignore. According to a report produced by Edison Investment Research, the global online gaming market generated £40 billion of gross gaming revenues (GGR) in 2018. The shift towards online gaming is being driven by different factors, in particular a rising mobile penetration (the advent of a mobile generation), product innovation and, very importantly, the introduction of local regulation across a growing number of countries. However, the recent trend within Asia is going in the opposite direction, largely driven by a recent crackdown on online gaming promoted by mainland authorities. Late last year, Cambodia declared a ban on all its online operations from January 2020 onwards. Within the same period, the Philippines issued a moratorium on new online licenses. Even in Macau, our regulator has been increasingly scrutinizing online practices focusing on the illegal use of the Macau Gaming Concessionaires branding or protected trademarks, via online gambling services. I understand the concerns underlying mainland policies. It is argued that the rise of online gambling has resulted in an increase in criminality and social problems in China. Several media outlets have posted that online gambling connected with telecom fraud has “caused huge losses to the victims and their families.” It has been further conveyed that this practice creates notorious loopholes regarding Know Your Customer protocols, being therefore dubbed as a channel for money laundering (because it allows players to conceal their identities). Despite the assumed mainland policy, IAG reported in its October 2019 edition, “Several sources suggest that the cross-border casino market, including online gaming and proxy betting, has surpassed the gross gaming revenue of land-based casino in Asia, exceeding US$50 billion, much of it flowing from China.” No doubt the above malpractices and social harms should be prevented and Macau authorities should 重點行業包括會展業、娛樂業及餐飲業等。同時，澳門積極開拓其 他發展可能性，包括成為金融服務中心、打造葡語國家服務平台 和融入大灣區發展。這些發展方向無疑是值得肯定的，也是澳門 前行的正確道路。 然而，理論上，一個以旅遊業為主的經濟，仍需依賴訪澳旅客 人數，所以經濟仍將受到限制及壓抑旅遊業的因素所帶來的破壞 性影響。至於澳門其他的發展可能性，結果是難以預料的，需要花 費時間及金錢去開拓。 我們需要面對的現實是，澳門是一個博彩城市，博彩業未來 將繼續是本澳經濟的主要引擎，只是經濟對博彩業的依賴程度或 有望降低。鑑於澳門的實況，澳門當局除了繼續推行及鼓勵非博 彩元素發展之餘，亦應考慮博彩業多元化，以補充現有的博彩元 素而不是替代。因此，澳門現在或可考慮允許網絡博彩的可能性。 網絡博彩 拉斯維加斯金沙集團前董事會成員Jason Ader最近接受美 國全國廣播公司商業頻道（CNBC）訪問時稱，新冠肺炎疫情令更 多賭客熱衷於非法網絡博彩，以及菲律賓的網絡博彩，該國是亞 洲唯一立法規管的網絡博彩市場。 他表示，「今年農曆新年期間，日均網絡博彩流量較去年同期 增長90%。」 時至今日，網絡博彩在全球各地興起，這是澳門不能忽視 的事實。研究機構Edison Investment Research的一份報告指 出，2018年全球網絡博彩市場的博彩總收入達400億英磅。推動網 絡博彩有賴不同因素，特別是在新一代手機帶動下，持續攀升的 手機普及率，以及產品創新，還有另一個非常重要的原因，是越來 越多國家立法監管網絡博彩。 不過，亞洲地區最近的發展與這趨勢背道而馳，主要因由是 中國內地近來不斷打擊網絡博彩活動。去年底，柬埔寨政府宣佈， 從2020年1月起禁止所有網絡博彩活動。同一時間，菲律賓宣佈暫 停批出新的網絡博彩營運牌照。澳門博彩監管機構亦大力監察相 關的網絡活動，尤其是違法使用澳門博彩特許經營者的品牌或商 標而進行的網絡博彩活動。 我明白內地當局在此議題上的憂慮，有人認為網絡博彩發