Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JAN 2021年1月 亞博匯 74 removal of restrictions in 2018 has been supercharged by the increased amount of free time people have had as a consequence of the lockdown, leading to huge increases in betting turnover. Publications previously focused solely on fantasy sports including FanDuel, DraftKings and even BarStool now operate proprietary sportsbooks with a majority of transactions occurring online. Enlargement of this sector is likely to continue as traditional casinos seek to market online sports gaming products to their legions of customers that are less willing to journey to the resorts for their amusement amid health safety concerns. We can also expect a greater number of M&A transactions in this space, as formerly staid casino owners seek future growth in an online world. Applying some of the lessons that have benefited sports gaming in the USA, how then could technology and a shift to online product offerings play a greater role in helping to shape the future of casino gaming in Asia? With online and streaming content capturing a larger portion of people’s idle attention, competition for consumer discretionary spend is increasing in intensity. In this environment, IRs will need to develop new and innovative products that take into account changing customer preferences in order to remain competitive. Most critical is the idea that all casino transactional activity takes place solely on the gaming floor. Historically this was practical given Companies such as Disney and Universal Studios have massively diversified, offering a variety of products and streaming services that leverage and not just rely on theme park content. 如迪士尼和環球影城等集團作出應對， 實現了多元化發展，提供及利用各類產 品和串流服務，不再只依賴旗下的主題 公園產品。 若相關官員未能好高騖遠、快速地應對市場不斷變化的趨勢，相 當一部分的博彩業收入將面臨流失的風險。例如，允許營運商採 用數字貨幣以促進手機博彩平台上的交易，或是促使更多客戶互 動及刺激博彩收入增長的關鍵催化劑。 鑑於驚人的價格波動，比特幣引起了人們的極大關注，但獲 國家機關或央行認可的數字貨幣產品開發和利用，或可釋放更巨 大的資金流動性，前題是落實了行業激勵措施。中國國民儲蓄率 為45％，是全球國民儲蓄率最高的國家之一，所以有渠道接觸這 很小部分的財富，這將為企業帶來裨益。 數字貨幣很可能促進建立更高效、成本更低的賭場營運環 境，使賭場業務量更大、安全性更高，從而也能夠應用於非博彩服 務。採用數字貨幣這支付解決方案還可以減少過時且繁多的合規 要求，這些合規計劃大多是被動性質，而不是主動預防任何惡意 活動。區塊鏈和分布式分類帳技術能夠為監管機構提供安全、有 效和無可爭議的審計跟踪，以及完整的交易歷史記錄。事實證明， 智能合約技術產品可在供應鏈結構中很好地運作，既能提高效率 又可降低成本，我相信相關產品能夠對博彩行業產生類似影響。 COLUMNISTS