South China Morning Post – Flush with cash after hitting the jackpot in Macau and Singapore, international gaming companies are betting on new markets across Asia as governments package economic incentives and rewrite legislation to welcome them.
The Philippines, South Korea, Australia, Russia, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Japan and most of Southeast Asia are trying to attract the region’s increasingly affluent and mobile consumers with the lure of glitzy casinos and tourism resorts.
“[Asia] is a long way off from saturation where, potentially, new supply would eat into existing operator revenues,” said Michael Paladino, a senior director in the corporates department at Fitch Ratings. “The overall pie will continue to grow.”
Macau took a gamble in the early 2000s and opened up its casino market to foreign operators. The move paid off.
The city’s 35 casinos generated more than US$45 billion in gaming revenues by the third quarter of last year, according to Fitch, and attracted 29.3 million visitors. In 2007, by comparison, Macau gaming revenues totalled US$10.5 billion.
Richard Huang, an investment analyst at CLSA, said Japan and the Philippines were likely to be the most successful new markets. Japan had 130 million people and high per capita income, while the Philippines offered established casino infrastructure, he added.
Sites in Osaka and Tokyo have been identified for future casinos modelled on Singapore’s integrated resorts – a mix of casinos, hotels, shopping centres and conference centres.
“Both markets are built on the assumption that investment will work even without inbound traffic,” Huang said.
