ASIA & OCEANIA
Fitch ratings believes that Chinese tourism will continue to drive the mass market in South East Asia with high single digit growth predicted for Macau in 2018.
SOUTH EAST ASIA OPERATOR NEWS Mass drives Macau, Singapore and Malaysia
JAPAN –Melco Resorts has launched “The City of The Future,” its Japanese IR concept which aims to become the most advanced gaming and entertainment destination in the world, while still holding true to the distinct history and heritage of Japan.
The news follows the recent establishment of a Japanese division with country headquarters in Tokyo, Melco Resorts & Entertainment has held a special event where Chairman and CEO Lawrence Ho and the recently appointed Japanese leadership team under Ako Shiraogawa, Japan office President, discussed initial plans for developing an original integrated resort for the Japanese market.
Mr. Lawrence Ho said: “It’s still early days in the long road ahead to a potential IR in Japan. So while some details may change along the way, what absolutely will not is this: We will do in Japan what we have done since our very first day, what we have delivered in Macau, the Philippines and Cyprus: build with local partners, invest in extraordinary world-first architecture and design, create sophisticated entertainment experiences, and embed state-of-the-art technology into everything we do.”
Melco’s team of architects, advisors and environmental specialists are working to make the site both energy-neutral and aesthetically daring. Design teams have imagined a futuristic façade that seamlessly integrates into the surrounding environment while subtly expressing key motifs in Japanese landscape design. And integrated throughout the entire property will be the world’s most advanced facial recognition technology for enabling responsible gaming and security.
Developed directly by Melco, the biometric intelligence system would make the proposed Melco IR the safest and most protected site possible using commercial technologies today. At the event, Melco announced that it would also offer the Japanese government back-end access to and data-sharing with these systems free-of-charge to ensure the most effective collaboration in safeguarding against potential gaming-related social issues.
Commenting on the system, Ms. Shiraogawa said: “This proprietary technology demonstrates our deep commitment to developing and implementing practical solutions for the government’s ongoing consideration of how to uphold socially safe integrated resorts. Its back- end technology can be updated as regulations evolve and on the front-end, the state-of-the-art biometric interface eliminates nearly all risk of human error.”
P36 NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE /
247.COM
In its latest market update, Alex Bumazhny, Senior Director at Fitch stated: “Chinese tourism expenditure is a key driver of gaming performance in Southeast Asia. Chinese visitors were the largest segment by nationality in Singapore in the first eight months of 2017, at 19 percent of total arrivals. We feel VIP tourism across the region will continue to recover, and ongoing growth in mass-market gaming tourism will support regional expansion and Australian [casino resort] construction. Overall, we view the Asia-Pacific market as underpenetrated, at least in the mass-market segment.”
Fitch said Macau’s 2018 GGR would increase ‘in the high-single-digit range’ or ‘slightly above China’s GDP growth.’ Mr. Bumazhny said it would be driven by the mass-market segment. “Macau’s gaming revenues grew 19 per cent in 2017 through October, reflecting double-digit growth in the VIP segment (28 per cent growth through September), which tends to be more volatile and is heavily reliant on credit availability on the mainland,” he explained. “Our 2018 and longer-term expectations
discount the current year-to-date VIP trajectory. Las Vegas- and Asia-oriented operators such MGM and Wynn are winding down their major developments.”
Singapore’s two casinos reported a 10 per cent increase in their revenue in 2017 having seen it decline by 30 per cent a year earlier. Fitch attributed this to 1.55m visitors from China during the first half of the year. It predicted that combined VIP GGR for Marina Bay Sands and Genting Sentosa should reach US$1.73bn in 2017 compared to an earlier prediction of US$1.49bn.
Mr. Bumazhny said: “GGR from Singapore’s two casinos will grow again during the first half of 2018 having been relatively flat throughout 2017. We do not believe competitive pressures in the Singapore market will increase in the near term as new licences are unlikely.”
Te report adds that the Malaysian gaming market would ‘remain stable’, ‘underpinned by a domestic, mass-market focus” at Resorts World Genting, the country’s only casino resort.
China
Cambodia Amax to operate VIP room at Poipet casino
Amax International will operate a VIP room at Genting Crown Casino in Poipet having signed a three year deal with Cambodia’s Crown Resorts, which isn’t affiliated to either Genting or Crown Resorts.
Te junket group will operate 13 VIP tables for which it will pay Crown Resorts Co a monthly fee of RMB500,000 (US$75,650) for the first year, RMB550,000 for the second year rising to RMB600,000 for the third year.
Amax stated: “Given the support of the Cambodian government to the local hotel and entertainment industry and the booming tourism year on year in Cambodia, the Board has spotted a valuable opportunity to tap into the entertainment businesses. Cambodia is still one of the smallest economies within ASEAN and remains one of the less developed countries in Asia when competitors and other investors are still unaware of this golden gem. Te local casino industry in Cambodia has been growing in recent years. In the first nine months of 2015, 75 casinos, with 10 new establishments licensed in the third quarter alone, were responsible for US$29m in government revenue and US$2bn in income for casino owners, most of which are foreign investment companies.”
Amax added that it would outsource the operation of the VIP room to the group who previously ran a room at its Greek Mythology casino in Macau between 2006 and 2011 and currently runs junket operations at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore and Imperial Pacific Resort in Saipan.
Macau’s 40 casinos have generated GGR of MOP23bn in November marking an increase of 22.6 per cent year-on-year to and bringing the region’s 16th consecutive month of growth. Union Gaming said VIP growth surpassed 30 per cent in November with mass gaming growth in the ‘high single or low double digits.’ With December usually being a stronger month than November, Union Gaming analyst Grant Govertsen has predicted 23 per cent growth for the month, which would mean a 20 per cent increase for the year as a whole. Tere are now 40 casinos in Macau, 22 of which were owned by Sociedade de Jogos de Macau, six by Galaxy Casino, five by Venetian Macau, four by Melco, two by Wynn Resorts and one by MGM with a total of 6,449 tables and 16,310 slot machines. Macau’s government has said it will review its legislation to make sure its casinos are following through on non- gaming commitments. In January it will tighten the licensing of junket operators.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112