MACAU BUSINESS
offers the greatest risks. Most of the countries, including the Philippines, that licence this form of online gaming, have been or are on the grey list of money laundering countries,” Gushin noted.
Therefore, the gaming expert underlined that pressure to regulate the industry will keep building “around the world” and not just in Asia, due to the associated risks of criminal activities connected to online overseas operations.
In January of this year, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime published a report on the role of casinos, junkets, and cryptocurrency in driving the underground banking and money laundering infrastructure in East and Southeast Asia.
THAILAND, THE NEW KID IN TOWN
Apart from discussions about the future of the summit’s host country, a lot of attention was given to the newest country in the region aiming to open up to casinos, Thailand. Thailand is currently advancing towards gaming legalisation, with a Thai parliamentary casino committee having proposed a gaming draft bill, which includes proposals such as a 17 percent gaming tax proposal.
The bill also estimates Thais will constitute three-quarters of the spending on potentially five to eight entertainment complexes to be built in the Southeast Asian kingdom. During a panel talk at the event, Spectrum Gaming Group’s SVP of Investigations, Paul Bromberg, highlighted the huge illegal gambling market that has existed for many years in Thailand.
However, the expert warned that to avoid the pitfalls witnessed in Japan, Thai authorities needed to be clear to the country’s population about the benefits the industry could provide. “Although some surveys say that people are in favour of legalised gaming in Thailand, there’s still a lot of opposition because of social problems,” the consultant pointed out. “Getting public support is essential. I think they realise that they will need to explain very clearly. And then they will need to have strong regulations and enforcement in order to attract the type of investment. It’s really very much. This is obviously an enormous amount of work to do.”
An analysis by the nation’s Finance Ministry indicated that Thais will constitute three- quarters of the spending at potentially five to eight entertainment complexes that could be built in the Southeast Asian kingdom. During the same panel talk, gaming consultant Daniel Cheng highlighted that, if implemented, the proposed 17 percent tax on gaming revenue by Thai authorities would be “very attractive” to investors.
Cheng considers that the rate is roughly on
par with Singapore’s tax bracket for mass gross gaming revenue, which will surely buoy investor interest.
On the second day of the conference, the CEO of the Grand Ho Tram Resort, Walter Power, argued he did not see a large impact on the Vietnam gaming market if neighbouring Thailand were to advance to open up the sector.
A gaming industry veteran with 30 years of experience—in Macau, the United States, Argentina, South Africa, and the Philippines— Power considered the country could attract some VVIP players from Singapore or Malaysia. The executive also remembered his years at Sands China in Macau, having helped set up the American gaming group in the SAR. Power, underlined that without a “strong local component,” no integrated resort can be successful, and that having a strong local market and products that cater to that same market are high on the list for IR managers. “What made Macau so successful was not that it had western style IRs but that it is located in Guangdong Province, which has over 120 million people,” he pointed out. While Macau
IRs would also be highly reliant on baccarat tables, which are highly popular with Chinese punters, Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, on the other hand had to implement slot machine games instead of gaming tables, which are more popular in the Malaysian market.
MACAU PRESENCE AT THE 2024 ASIA GAMING AWARDS As usual, the summit ended with another edition of the Asia Gaming Awards. Some Macau-linked companies and personalities were honoured at this year’s Asia Gaming Awards, namely, Melco Resorts and executive Lorraine Koo. Of the gaming operators with a presence in the Macau SAR, Melco Resorts & Entertainment received one of the awards handed out by this year’s Asia Gaming Awards, taking home the Best Responsible Gaming Programme in a ceremony held at the Shangri-La The Fort Manila Hotel. Lorraine Koo, who previously held executive positions in Macau with Galaxy Entertainment Group, Meg-Star, and The 13 Hotel, was one of the three personalities awarded an Outstanding.
MAY 2024 33
Luis Pereira,
Managing Director of ASEAN Gaming Summit and Asia Gaming Brief
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
