Inside Asian Gaming

IAG NOV 2022年11月 亞博匯 28 2022 POWER 50 given the enormous turmoil our industry has suffered since the pandemic first emerged almost three years ago. The economic impact of the pandemic has shifted the powerbase across much of the region, with Macau clearly the biggest loser as it tries to ride out the COVID- zero storm. Of course, other jurisdictions also suffered during the pandemic, but most of them are back to near-2019 levels and may hit their high- water marks in 2023, while Macau continues to languish at revenues ranging from a low of almost zero to a high of perhaps a third of 2019 levels – depending on the government policies of the day. Those government policies can change on a daily or even hourly basis. Some of the biggest stories of the year, COVID aside, have included Macau’s path towards new concessions, the demise of Japan (MGM Osaka aside) in its efforts to realize a casino gaming industry, the appointment of a new Chairman of PAGCOR, and the regulatory storm the two largest operators in Australia have faced. We’ve also seen the effective collapse of the junket industry. This has seen the departure from the Power 50 list of several junket leaders – most notably Alvin Chau. The Suncity boss entered the list with a bullet at number 8 in 2010. This started a 12-year long run with rankings between number 5 and number 8, apart from a brief hiccup in 2016 when China’s crackdown on corruption saw him slip to number 13. As I’ve mentioned for the past few years, we’ve now seen the departure of Sheldon Adelson, Stanley Ho and Steve Wynn from our industry – the first two passing away after long lives and the latter well and truly removed both from the company which still bears his name and from the industry as a whole. All three were moguls who shaped our industry. In a post Adelson-Ho-Wynn world, leadership and power is not quite so clear cut. Mr Adelson, founder of Las Vegas Sands, played an enormous role in Macau continues to languish at revenues ranging from a low of almost zero to a high of perhaps a third of 2019 levels – depending on the government policies of the day. 澳門的收入則持續低迷，從幾乎為零的低點 到可能達到2019年水平1/3的高點——取決 於政府的政策。