Inside Asian Gaming

IAG OCT 2020年10月 亞博匯 54 OMINOUS OUTLOOK Opinion remains divided over the long-term outlook for Macau’s junket industry. “Macau in 5 to 10 years down the line will be far less reliant on VIP – and that’s a good thing,” says Tash, who supports operators placing more focus on its higher- margin mass segments in the coming years. Others still consider VIP, be it junket-led or direct, to be an important tool in steering Macau towards quality of visitation over quantity. Either way, there are undoubtedly going to be short- term challenges as the gaming industry starts the long road back from COVID-19 – a road not helped by China’s latest crackdown on gambling-related capital outflow. According to Credit Suisse analysts Kenneth Fong, Lok Kan Chan and Rebecca Law, the VIP system will “substantially scale down over the next few years, dragging the pace of recovery,” as a result of the crackdown. IN FOCUS Junkets and their agents have demonstrated a greater propensity to take their players abroad to jurisdictions such as Cambodia in recent years. 近年來博彩中介人公司及代理更傾向於將玩家帶至柬埔寨等國家。 “Some of the big operators like Suncity and Tak Chun are really migrating away from just being focused on junket operations to either becoming casino operators themselves or diversifying completely.” – David Green 「現在如太陽城和德晉這樣的大型博彩 中介公司實際早已從專注於博彩中介業 務轉而自己成為娛樂場營運商，或完全實 現多元化。」 – David Green