Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JUN 2022年6月 亞博匯 28 MALAYSIA Malaysia was another country to have faced extended lockdowns, or Movement Control Orders (MCOs) as they were called, over the past 12 months, with the Delta variant seeing daily cases reach around 25,000 in September before Omicron lifted that to a peak of 33,406 in March. However, the last of Malaysia’s MCOs was lifted for vaccinated individuals in October 2021 with a view to kickstarting the economy. First steps towards the reopening of international borders took place in November when its land border with Singapore was partially opened, followed by air routes between the two in January. In late March, Malaysia dropped all quarantine requirements for international visitors with only a negative COVID-19 test result required for the unvaccinated. While the nation’s sole integrated resort, Resorts World Genting, reopened to Genting Rewards Members only on 30 September 2021, its three gaming floors – SkyCasino, Genting Club and Genting Casino – are now open 24 hours and operating at full capacity. Maybank IB Research analyst Samuel Yin Shao Yang said in a recent note that RWS is benefiting from the reopening of its borders, particularly with Singapore, writing, “many Singaporean mass market gamblers are heading to RWG to gamble COVER STORY rather than the other way around, due to the strong SGD and casino entry levy in Singapore.” Suppliers note that RWG is gradually returning to pre-COVID levels but expect business to ramp significantly towards the back end of 2022. Resorts World Genting 雲頂世界