Asia puts its chips on the gambling industry

30.06.2004, Lesen Sie hier den Bericht über «Asia puts its chips on the gambling industry».

Suddenly, it seems, everyone in Asia is placing bets on gambling. While Singapore debates the merits of having a casino on its soil, others such as Thailand, Japan, Taiwan and Indonesia are getting into the act by relaxing or relooking their anti-gambling laws to allow for casinos.

Those which already have them, such as Macau and the Philippines, are trying to stay ahead of the game by sprucing up what they have to offer to the high rollers from the region. The buzz was clear at a casino conference held in Singapore last week.

The record number of more than 1,000 participants, from gaming company bigwigs to officials, made the event the biggest in nine years. Quite obviously, what lies behind the surge of interest is the high payoff on offer.

Asians spend about US$14 billion (S$24 billion) a year on gambling, including illegal betting offered by underground operators taking advantage of tough laws.

By 2010, they are expected to spend US$23 billion on anything from blackjack, jackpot and roulette to lotteries like 4-D in the region and beyond, industry experts at the conference predicted. 'Asians love to gamble,' Dr Ambrose So, director of the Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (SJM), which until last month had a monopoly on Macau's casinos, told The Straits Times.

Add to that East Asia's booming economies, most notably China's, and the expected explosion in tourism that will result, it is no wonder that governments are putting their chips on the industry. It's also no wonder that Dr So's company and the likes of United States gaming giants MGM-Mirage and Caesars Entertainment, all here last week, are looking for elbow room at the table.

Governments are not just salivating at the taxes that betting will bring in - one estimate is that here, they could account for as much as a fifth of the Government's revenue - they also know that gamblers from overseas also splurge on hotels, food and entertainment like other tourists. For that reason, established players are remodelling casinos-only destinations into 'destination resorts' with all the tourist frills.

For instance, Macau's 'gambling king' Stanley Ho plans to spend US$380 million on three new trump cards, namely, Macau Fisherman's Wharf, Ponte 16 and East-West Cultural Village. The sell: 'Macanese hybridised culture that distinguishes it from the rest of the world and keeps people coming back'.

The state-owned Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor), which runs all 16 casinos in the country, is betting US$15 billion in a mega-project on Manila Bay which will come with a theme park, hotels, shopping malls and condominiums.

Oh, there will be three casinos there too. Meanwhile, others are placing wagers elsewhere - just in case. Malaysia's sole casino operator Genting Berhad, for instance, is diversifying by boosting its power- generation business in the face of possible competition from Thailand and Singapore. Singapore's idea runs along the same not-just-a- casino line. The casino will be part of giant resort and residential development in the Southern Islands, complete with hotels and convention centres.

Besides Macau's SJM, others have stated their interest in the project: US gaming giants like MGM- Mirage, Caesars Entertainment and Harrah's Entertainment, Vienna-based Casinos Austria International (CAI) and Genting Berhad. CAI's chief executive Frank McFadden said at the conference: 'Singapore's infrastructure can support the casino by extending quality tourism, while the air links, hotels and other entertainment facilities are already here.'

But casino operators looking to Asia say that the biggest jackpot will be China with its growing economy and 1.2 billion people. 'Now that China is opening up and more and more people travel more freely, I think this is a tremendous market for everyone,' said SJM's Dr So. For the first time last year, tourist arrivals in Macau from China outgrew the number of visitors from Hong Kong - and visitors mostly go to Macau for one main thing.

Las Vegas casino executives think that China will be the fastest growing source of big-time punters who blow upwards of S$3,000 per trip and for whom casinos lay out the red carpet. Concerns about the social ills of gambling that make some countries such as Singapore hesitant about casinos are being pushed aside by the lure of this pot of gold. Some governments have chosen to lessen the negative social impact by restricting access to some or all locals or by locating casinos in remote areas. Casino advocates, however, argue that those not allowed to indulge in their poker in their home country will simply go overseas or go online. And that those who cannot bet legally will do so underground. Gaming consultant, Professor Andy Nazarechuk of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said: 'People who have a gambling problem already have one. It's not as if they would develop a problem once gambling becomes legal. 'In fact, legalising it would help surface the problem.'

However valid this argument, there is little doubt that some will find the economic argument too strong to fold on. Even if Singapore baulks in the end, expect other countries to go with the roll.


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Will Singapore bet on a casino? Stakes are high

State-run lotteries, casino cruise ships, illegal bookmakers, horse racing and illicit poker dens... Singapore is no stranger to gambling. But a proposal to build the first fully fledged casino in Southeast Asia’s wealthiest state is dividing public opinion and provoking a groundswell of polite criticism in a nation where decisions are usually sewn up quietly behind closed doors.

Casinos would accelerate efforts to remould Singapore’s $93 billion economy into a services hub as China’s rapid economic growth erodes the city’s traditional manufacturing base and fast-growing cities such as Bangkok vie for tourist dollars.

They would open up a new avenue for tapping the growing affluence of Asian travellers, while plugging revenues lost to illegal gambling dens and countries where casinos are legal such as Cambodia, the Philippines and potentially Thailand.

But critics say Singapore is flirting with a social disaster. Evidence of the sensitivity of the subject: homegrown moviemaker Jack Neo’s latest work “The Best Bet”, which tells the story of three Singaporeans obsessed with the national lottery. “What I want people to think about is, if you get into big trouble, if you gamble so much, it affects your family, it affects your life entirely,” Neo told Reuters.

Thailand, like Singapore, is also considering legalising casinos, while the Philippines announced this week it was accelerating a $15 billion casino and entertainment project. Neo, a former gambling addict who wrote and directed the film, once spent S$1,200 ($700) a month for several years on the lottery. Critical but resigned, he reckons a casino is natural for a developed nation already betting heavily in lotteries, on cruise ships and via illegal bookmakers. He expects it will go ahead.

Government delegations have flown to Las Vegas and the Chinese gambling enclave of Macau to study casino models, and a decision is expected around the end of the year. Financially compelling: The financial case is compelling, analysts say. GK Goh Research estimates betting revenue accounted for nearly 10 percent of Singapore’s overall government taxation in 2003, a figure that would swell if a casino opened.

Singaporeans already spend about $180 million a year in neighbouring Malaysia’s casinos, which bar Muslims. About $140 million of Singaporean money is spent in Indonesia’s Batam island casinos and about $400 million is spent on casino cruises.

The Innovation Group, a U.S. consultancy that compiled the data, said “floating casinos” and illegal gambling in Asia were worth about $4.2 billion alone. Some estimates put the value of Asia’s legal gambling industry at about $14 billion. “From my perspective I don’t see any reason why the government would not want to take that step to open and allow a casino,” said Steven Lim, the executive director of RGB, a Malaysia-based gaming supplier. The Business Times estimates a casino in Singapore could earn $235-$335 million a year for the operators and create up to 1,000 jobs.

Las Vegas Sands Inc, which opened a lavish Vegas-style new casino in Macau in May, has said it is ready to pump in as much as US$2 billion to operate a Singapore casino. Hong Kong billionaire Stanley Ho’s gambling empire showed interest this week, along with Harrah’s Entertainment Inc, the number two U.S. casino company, and Vienna-based Casinos Austria International Ltd. The draw is simple: Singapore boasts Southeast Asia’s highest per-capita income, Asia’s sixth- busiest air hub, the world’s third-largest number of city business conventions in 2004 and increasing numbers of affluent Chinese tourists.

Social ills: But public debate simmers over the social consequences and a proposal to restrict local access in the hope of heading off widespread gambling addiction. Trade Minister George Yeo triggered an angry public response in March when he said: “If you are not of a certain economic class, you should not even think of going there.” Islamic scholars have condemned the idea, and the Straits Times newspaper has bristled with public criticism. “There are certain businesses we should never get involved in and gambling is definitely one of them,” one resident, Ling Wai Ping said. Even a senior official at Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (SJM), which enjoyed a 40-year monopoly on casinos in Macau until this year, speaks of the dangers. “In my view, if a place that is already a financial centre, (where) you have sophisticated trading, it’s not advisable to have a casino there,” SJM director Ambrose So said this week.

“The casino operation will have a cannibalising effect on other industries if the locals are addicted to gambling.” Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said in 1991 that a casino would never exist in Singapore so long as he was leader. He is due to be replaced this year by Lee Hsien Loong, son of Singapore’s founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew. “The upside of this is there is money being collected and being given to education, sports and culture,” said member of parliament Chandra Mohan. “If it’s for a good cause, the government can justify it morally and ethically, to an extent.”

Besides, industry executives say, Singaporeans will gamble whether a casino goes ahead or not. “If gambling is not legalised, it merely goes underground and it continues to exist. It’s part of Chinese culture to gamble even at weddings and funerals,” said Theodore Loh, managing director of orientgaming, which runs online gaming.

Über Glücksspiele in Macau - Gambling in Macao:

Macau (englisch Macao) liegt rund 50 Kilometer westlich von Hongkong und ist das Glücksspiel-Paradies in Asien.

Macau hat rund 40 Spielcasinos. Die grössten Casinos sind The Venetian Macao, MGM Macao, Wynn Macao, Galaxy StarWorld, City of Dreams, Sands Macao, Casino Lisboa.

Neben den riesigen und farbenfrohen Casinobuildings ist eines der Wahrzeichen der Macau Tower (Fernsehturm mit 338 Meter) mit atemberaubenden Ausblicken auf die Stadt.

Macau erstreckt sich über eine Fläche von 115.3 km2 und hat rund 620'000 Einwohner.

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