Inside Asian Gaming

IAG MAR 2021年3月 亞博匯 44 COLUMNISTS have closed doors to this possibility. As per a Macau Business report in June 2020, “When Ho Iat Seng was asked about the possibility of allowing Macau’s casinos to engage in online gaming, the answer was: it is ‘being studied ’ . So, the time is now! THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM Before suggesting ways forward, we must address the elephant in the room – Mainland China. In the last few years Chinese authorities have clearly demonstrated zero tolerance for the targeting of their nationals by online gaming operations (especially in Greater Asia), a policy designed to prevent the illicit outflow of capital from the country. This is a matter that Macau authorities must address. The approach is clear: Mainland China players should not be allowed to play on Macau online gaming platforms. Macau should develop operations technically such that they do not target and cannot be used by Mainland China players and so as to prevent any circumvention of this rule (geo- blocking, geofencing solutions and geolocation tools). It is technically viable to accurately identify if a player is within a location where betting is inadmissible. This approach could take the pressure off the Macau Government ’ s shoulders and would allow for a non-biased SWOT analysis on the implementation of online operations. Even a two-tiered approach, with two different implementation periods, could be envisaged: a first instance where online gaming would be totally banned for Chinese nationals, and a second (within three to five years) where opening to wider markets could be considered. This would allow for the 確識別玩家是否在不允許下注的地點投注在技術上是可行的。這 種方法可以減輕澳門政府的壓力，並可以對網絡運營的實施進行 無偏差的SWOT分析。 此外還可以考慮分兩個不同的階段實施不同的內容：第一階 段是完全禁止中國公民進行網絡博彩，第二階段（3至5年後）則考 慮是否開放更廣闊的市場。此舉可令市場得以發展及成熟，給予 政府時間去證明其有能力實施必要的制衡措施，以確保內地政府 遵守國家的反腐政策及打擊非法資金轉移的行為。 此外，此舉也有可能說服內地當局，「允許」資金通過國民的 網絡投注流向一個可控的、受到監管的環境或者更為可取，而非 被亞洲其他地方的營運商收入囊中（一如現在已經發生的那般）。 是否值得？ 沒有內地玩家的網絡博彩值得營運嗎？我認為這是一個不 該提出的問題（或者至少不是正確的表述形式）。相反，應該承認， 沒有其他方式可以繞過它。僅就數字而言，亞洲擁有約47億人 口——相較網絡博彩已經非常成熟的歐洲而言，潛力要大得多。 儘管存在種種限制——某些國家不允許本國公民登錄離岸博 彩平台投注——但毫無疑問，亞洲的網絡博彩增長潛力巨大。舉個 簡單的例子，如果我的計算正確的話，網絡博彩的收入若能僅達 到澳門2019年博彩總收入的9％的水平，即可覆蓋所有澳門公務 員的薪水（基於2020年澳門預算）。 菲律賓模式 若不提及當地人入場的可能性，則本討論是不完整的。我看 不出有甚麼理由不這樣做。 除了某些例外，本地人是可以在澳門的實體賭場全天候不停 地投注。本地人，無一例外，都可以在離岸博彩網站上投注。事實 上，澳門並沒有禁止或限制訪問在其管轄範圍（有待考慮）之外的 託管和運營的博彩網站。 此外，澳門並沒有強制要求當地的互聯網服務供應商承擔封 鎖義務。那些擔憂當局可能會限制本地人玩樂的潛在原因，尤其 是防止過度及不受監管的問題賭博行為，其實很容易（從技術角 度）解決。對於未成年人及弱勢群體的保護可以透過清晰的、包括 面部識別在內的玩家身份識別、以及在玩家賬戶上設置可下注限