Inside Asian Gaming

IAG AUG 2021年8月 亞博匯 88 JAPAN CONCLUSION Last month IAG compared and contrasted the three candidates for the Nagasaki IR and offered our view on which we felt was best positioned to win that race. To pick a winner in Yokohama between Genting Singapore and Melco Resorts is a much taller order. Both companies are genuine IR companies with multi-billion dollar properties and decades of experience and specialized IR knowhow. Genting has the advantage of being (ostensibly at least) from Singapore (though really fromMalaysia), as opposed to Melco, who will be seen as based in Macau but is really somewhat pan-Asian, even arguably North American. Yes, the Singapore model is what Japan is looking for, but Genting is really global, not Singaporean, and Japan is not acting like Singapore – so it may not get the Singapore-style outcomes it seeks. Melco’s perceived obstacle of being from Macau should not really be an obstacle – Macau is the gold standard for IRs in the world today and is really quite different from the rest of China. All in all, these “place of origin” factors all seem to even out. Financially, both are suffering COVID-related hardship, but both have the capacity, track record and financial wherewithal to raise the funds they need. Another chop. Both have solid MICE capabilities, although not absolutely tier-1A MICE skills such as those possessed by Sands. Having said that, both companies are perfectly capable of delivering what needs to be delivered in Japan for MICE.