MACAU BUSINESS
By Christopher Cottrell in Bangkok By Paolo A. Azevedo
Jeju – the new Singapore
Unknotting the Thai gamble
With the odds rising that Thailand may legalise gaming this year or early next year, analysts are wondering what this might mean for Macau operators and Thai tourism, attracting Chinese gamblers.
M C
asino legislation in Thailand—while seemingly stymied by the ousting of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin in August
following a Constitutional Court ruling—appears to have prevailing momentum with the new Prime Minister Paetongtarn “Ung Ing” Shinawatra, elected to lead the ruling Pheu Thai Party last month.
18 OCTOBER 2017
On 21 September, the Pheu Thai Party posted a statement on their website defending its decision to legalise casino-entertainment complexes. They are justifying their decision with the argument that it will crack down on underworld activities and generate tax revenues from gambling. Gaming taxes would represent more than 50% of current GDP, the statement said, harnessing the national and global “fun” economy – the latter they estimate to be worth US$13.7 trillion. Domestically,
28 NOVEMBER 2024
acau Business – From Lotte World, a major recreational complex [with the world’s largest indoor theme park, in Seoul] to an integrated resort with casino in Jeju. A different beast. A
natural evolution? Lawrence Teo – Business is the same. But building
a landmark. M. B. – The group [Lotte] has created other landmarks in different types of business. Why would this be different? L. T. – Yes, Lotte Group has already created
Thailand could generate US$5 billion, according to Maybank, and as much as US$15 billion annually from gaming in the long term, according to CLSA.
downtown Seoul and Lotte Super Tower. We’re trying LEGALISATION MOOD
An earlier policy statement from Shinawatra on 12 September noted, “Over the past 20 years, efforts have been made to legalise economic transactions that are deemed illegal, but they failed because many in society were not open to such ideas. But in recent years, past and current governments have studied the possibility.”
Pheu Thai say that, “One of the strategies is to legalise and tax casinos properly.” The Bangkok Post reported that, “the Finance Ministry has finished drafting the Entertainment Complex Act and the bill will undergo a public hearing as required by Section 77 of the constitution. After the
want to achieve with this Integrated Resort (IR)? L. T. – Number one EBIDTA on IR in Korea. There’s
hearing, the bill, along with public feedback, will be presented to the cabinet for consideration.” According to the bill, an entertainment complex will need a licence, pay 5 billion baht (US$154 million) to register, and make an annual payment of 1 billion baht (US$30 million). For this, an operator will get a 30-year licence, renewable for another 10 years. At present, there is no exact known number of potential licences, but the Pheu Thai- supported bill has selected five “venues”, with two slated for Bangkok, one for the Eastern Economic Corridor (likely Chonburi), Chiang Mai, and Phuket. However, could these “venues” technically be large zones where multiple licences could operate? Will these permit sublicensing agreements? That’s anyone’s guess at this point.
Jeju will be as big as Singapore in terms of Gross Gaming Revenue, predicts Lawrence Teo. The Chief Operations Officer and Vice President of Dream Tower, the tallest Integrated Resort under construction on the Korean destination island, explains to Macau Business why Lotte Tour decided to enter the casino business and create a landmark. All bets are on making the casino resort the crown of the tourism jewel the company has been dominating for four decades
to do the Dream Tower in Jeju. Lotte here is being just a family company; we’re a different company [Lotte Tour]. It’s not going to be [just] the tallest and the largest building in Jeju, that’s just the hardware. We say that a landmark should be the most visited destination, where tourists will go to eat, shop and maybe [visit] our observation deck. A must-visit point destination. Because of the hardware, and also the software.
M. B. – What are the main goals that you definitely
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