Inside Asian Gaming

IAG FEB 2021年2月 亞博匯 54 JAPAN famous “whatever it takes” phrase summed up this sentiment. But ultimately, warm fuzzy “we love Japan” statements have given way to hard-nosed business decisions. The global pandemic has also played a significant moderating role. As the Japan IR process has continued, and most regulatory decisions have been unfavorable to candidate operators, a number of them have fallen by the wayside and the mood has become increasingly subdued. In early 2019 I was lucky enough to conduct long interviews with 13 very senior Asian IR executives as part of a 26,000-word University of Macau thesis entitled, “What makes one Asian Integrated Resort more profitable than another?” These executives averaged 27 years ’ industry experience, and some had responsibility for tens of thousands of staff and multi- billion US dollar properties. Collectively they ranked the top three factors influencing Asian IR profitability, in order, as: 1. A large population base in the nearby area 2. Access dynamics (the ability for visitors and their money to get to the IR site) 3. Pro-IR government, regulator and regulations (such as low tax rates, helpful labor laws, reasonable investment requirements and so on) These three important factors are currently influencing the thinking of companies bidding in Japan. For example, one of the biggest issues with the Japan process is that Japanese authorities have not made any regulatory distinction between metropolitan and regional IRs, yet the local population bases 競投牌照的興趣，包括遠至南非的Peermont Hotels（該集團在 南非和博茨瓦納營運12間酒店物業），但不少現在已不再參與競 投。 熱情冷卻 在行業發展早期，不少企業都非常積極樂觀，新濠博亞主席 兼行政總裁何猷龍的名言，「用盡一切」爭奪牌照，可大致概括當 中的情緒。但最終「我愛日本」等熱情洋溢的論調被務實的商業決 策所取代，一場新冠肺炎大流行更顯著地沖淡了當中的熱情。隨 著日本IR牌照程序進一步明確，大部分監管決定都不利於候選營 運商，不少企業已中途放棄，那股熱情已一去不復返。 2019年初，我很幸運地能與13位亞洲IR業資深高管進行深入 訪談，以撰寫我在澳門大學的學位論文，該文長約2.6萬字，題為「 甚麼因素令一個亞洲綜合度假村更為賺錢？」受訪的高管平均擁 有約27年的行業經驗，部分掌管數以萬計的員工和總值數十億美 元的物業。他們按先後次序列出以下三大影響著亞洲IR項目盈利 能力之因素： 1. 毗鄰地區的人口龐大 2. 連繫流通 (IR選址的遊客及資金流通性) 3. 支持IR行業的政府部門、監管機構和法規（如低稅率、利 好的勞動政策及合理的投資要求等） 這三大重要因素目前正影響營連商在日本競投的想法。例 如，日本相關程序的最大問題之一是，日本當局沒有在大都會IR 項目和地方IR項目之間進行任何監管區分，但兩者人口基數卻大 不相同。東京都市圈是世界最大的都會區，人口達3800萬人次。然 而，雖然長崎縣及和歌山縣等地方的人口不足50萬人次，但地方 IR項目要求卻與其他地區一樣。在商言商，這錯誤的對等是沒有 道理的。