Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JUN 2023年6月 亞博匯 70 H ere at IAG we’re always delighted to receive feedback from our readers. It comes through a variety of channels such as our LinkedIn page, in-person industry events or even just plain old email. Such feedback helps to shape our thinking on industry coverage. We recently received some feedback to the editorial of the May issue of IAG , which was written by our Managing Editor Ben Blaschke. The editorial, titled “Japan: Is something better than nothing?”, lamented the fact that what we will ultimately get in Japan will likely be so much less than what could have been. Here’s the feedback, slightly edited for brevity and clarity: I am from Japan, based in Las Vegas and have been in the gaming industry since 2005. Personally, I also have a “not very optimistic” view for Japan. Recently, I came across Mr Kenichi Ohmae, a globally famous management consultant, who is also skeptical about MGM Osaka. As well as doubting MGM’s ability to attract enough high rollers, he describes the casino industry as a twilight industry, very different from an emerging industry. I will leave the issue of attracting high value players for another day, but I’d like to address this proposition of casinos being a “sunset” or “twilight” industry. This idea has presented with some frequency in recent years. The argument usually goes something like this: “Kids and young adults these days are more interested in video games, social media and other online activities than baccarat, other table games or slots, which are really an ‘old people’ activity. As time goes on, casino gaming – at least at land- based venues – will die.” As seductive as this argument may appear, I disagree entirely. I’d like to offer four separate pieces of evidence to support the contention that casinos are not a sunset industry. COLUMNISTS