ASIA & OCEANIA
VIPs Could Desert Marina Bay Sands
Las Vegas Sands’ Singapore casino Marina Bay Sands is being investigated by the US Department of Justice for potentially breaching anti-money laundering laws
Las Vegas Sands’ Singapore casino Marina Bay Sands is being investigated by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) for potentially breaching anti-money laundering laws.
Te DOJ has reportedly issued a subpoena to a former MBS compliance chief to provide documents and any other information related to the accounts of VIP players.
Te investigation concerns junkets lending money using casino credit. Singapore’s Casino Regulatory Authority said it was committed to ‘ensuring that the casinos in Singapore, including Marina Bay Sands, remain free from criminal influence or exploitation, and takes a serious view of any allegations of unauthorised money transfers.’
Maybank analyst Samuel Yin Shao Yang believes the sheer mention of an investigation could result in migrating VIP players to Sands’
Australia
Australian Federal Parliament pass first reading of new bill banning social casinos
Te Australia Government is looking to ban social casino games with proposed legislation passing its first reading in the House of Representatives of the Australian Federal Parliament.
Te bill, tabled by Andrew Wilkie MP, and called the Interactive Gambling Amendment (Banning Social Casinos and Other Measures) Bill 2020 stipulates that any form of real-money online casino is banned, and that social casinos should be reclassified and included in the real-money category.
Mr. Wilkie said: “Social casino games can also pave the way for problematic gambling, because they normalise gambling behaviours, increase the player’s confidence in winning and make gambling seem more socially acceptable and risk-free. Tis not only instils false confidence in
players and encourages greater spending on social casinos but also primes players for movement on to more serious gambling sites”
“Australian research has found that gambling-like games on social media effectively prepare children for gambling with real money later in life, because they familiarise underage users with how to play casino games. Even if the underage player is not spending real currency, the simulated casino game can make young people more susceptible to gambling mechanics, to psychological tricks and to addiction,” he added.
“In addition, gambling research shows that in times of great emotional or financial stress people are more likely to lose more money, making the COVID- 19 pandemic a perfect storm for online gambling losses.”
domestic competitor Resorts World Sentosa. He highlighted that a similar DOJ investigation at Marina Bay Sands in 2010 increased Resorts World Sentosa’s share of Singapore’s VIP market to a high of 67 per cent, and remain above 50 per cent for the next two quarters, from an average of 47 per cent.
Mr. Yin said: “We do not presume that either MBS, Sands China or LVS was or is guilty or innocent of any charges – which company has never had to deal with disgruntled ex- employees?” Yin said. “What we gather is VIPs tend to avoid casinos which are under investigation, especially by the DOJ. Learning from history, we gather that RWS could benefit from higher share of VIP volume. All it needs to do now is just reopen.”
Both Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa have been closed since April 7 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Philippines
PAGCOR's Chair and CEO Andrea Domingo hopes Manila’s casinos can reopen this month following falling tax revenues and job losses in the casino sector. Land-based casinos have been closed for almost three months with Okada Manila announcing 1,000 layoffs last month due to a lack of revenue. Speaking at ICE Asia Digital and SiGMA Asia Focus, she said PAGCOR had grown its annual income from US$902m in 2015 to over US$1.6bn in 2019. “Tis is how much PAGCOR contributes to the national economy and we would have been doing very well this year, but then COVID came and we have to take three steps back. Te priority is that we need to stay healthy and stay safe during COVID-19. Te second most important thing is that we have to be able to maintain the employment of the 132,000 direct hires of the gaming industry. And third we have to maximise revenue collection to jumpstart the economy.”
MALAYSIA – Resorts World Genting (RWG), the mountain top resort casino in Malaysia, reopened on Friday, 19 June 2020 with enhanced safety measures in place to ensure the health and safety of all guests and employees. Due to limited capacity, entry into SkyCasino at SkyAvenue and Genting Club at Genting Grand Hotel was for Genting Rewards members only. The casino hoped public entry would resume as soon as possible. The operator said that the Awana Skyway cable car and Genting express buses also resumed operations.
"We have re-engineered our processes and developed a comprehensive safety plan in line with the government’s guidelines and global best practices," Genting stated. "The RWG StaySafe Promise outlines our enhanced safety plan for the resort. The protocols cover social distancing measures, enhanced cleaning and disinfection processes, as well as the deployment of service ambassadors among others. Analysts Tushar Mohata and Alpa Aggarwal from brokerage Nomura said: “We believe that with more than 70 per cent of visitors to Genting Highlands being locals, some pent-up demand could return now as the resort resumes operations despite closed international borders."
TAIWAN – INTRALOT’ has announced the successful launch of INTRALOT Canvas, its advanced content management system (CMS), and new eSports games for its long-standing customer Taiwan Sports Lottery Corporation (TSLC), the market exclusive licensed betting operator.
INTRALOT Canvas will empower TSLC to rapidly build and configure a responsive HTML5 betting portal offering a full-featured betting experience, optimised for all screen sizes, with customised, personalised and rich betting content offering for their online players, differentiating TSLC from the competition.
INTRALOT Canvas is a powerful CMS, featuring embedded software tools like personalization, analytics, player engagement and marketing and a comprehensive set of betting-specific functionalities.
In parallel, INTRALOT has enabled the launch of eSports Betting supporting the innovative quest of TSLC to enhance its sportsbook and offer a great player experience through new content.
The new eSports games are powered by SPORTRADAR with the first one launched being the major and most popular League of Legends (LOL), available in both retail and online channels. Additional eSports titles are planned to be introduced in the near future.
NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA P25
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