83
on the ruling. “We do not com-
ment on legal proceedings,”
said Katharine Liu, their com-
munications director.
Eye on Asia
What’s the impact?
Harrah’s
The ruling could prompt a shift
in gaming credit, and casinos
Interactive
may look more seriously at is-
entertainment
suing credit directly to players
since they can now collect debts
is looking to
via the courts. develop its
Nowadays, VIP junkets
online gaming
are usually responsible for di-
rectly issuing credit to VIP
business
players and collecting debts. In
in Asia.
exchange, they charge gaming
operators a commission that
Aware of the
can equal more than 45 percent
difficulties the
of casino revenue. They also
charge very high interest on
region poses
debts. in terms of
In the wake of the rul-
gambling
ing, local casinos my try to
dismiss junkets to boost their
laws,
profitability in the crucial VIP
company
segment.
chief
Mainland out executive
of the loop
officer, Mitch
The problem, says Zeng
Zhonglu, a gaming industry
Garber,
expert at Macau Polytechnic
tells Macau
Institute, is that the majority of
the VIP players come from the
Business that
mainland, where Wynn’s law-
social network
suit will have no impact. It is
not possible to enforce the col-
sites might
lection of debts arising from be a first step
gaming there.
in entering
So, VIP junkets are still
needed to collect debts from
the market
mainland gamblers. For that,
and they
they resort to extrajudicial
methods that can eventually
are already
evolve into physical intimi- looking out
dation, kidnapping and other
for partners.
forms of violence.
“I don’t think the court
The mainland,
decision will affect the funda-
Macau and
mentals of gaming in Macau,”
Zeng told Macau Business. “It
Japan are all
will only have a limited im-
on Harrah’s
W
hat are Harrah’s interactive entertainment
plans for online gaming in asia?
Mitch Garber: Our first plan is to look
pact,” he added.
radar
for the best partners in Asia. People talk about Asia as if it
Another reason for that is
was one country, and this is problematic. We’re looking for
junkets can be more aggressive
a Chinese partner, a Japanese partner, a Taiwanese partner, a
in handing out credit to VIP
by Luciana Leitão
Filipino partner – many different partners, many different cul-
players than casinos. And, at the
tures, many different languages and different opportunities.
bottom end, they still control the
For now, we’re really talking to partners on how we can best
large majority (around 80 per-
exploit our brands on the internet, in their countries, lawfully.
cent) of the VIP customers.
That’s our focus.
March 2010
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