Asian casino gamblers must be frequent flyers
24 September 2009, Milton Shaw
An innate love of gambling
That there is a high propensity to gamble amongst Asians is disputed by few.
Gambling in many forms has been an almost ritualistic component of the Asian way
of life for thousands of years rooted in a strong belief in notions of luck, feng shui,
fate, destiny and a consequent illusion of control at the tables, apparently born out of
underlying principles of the region's dominating religions...Confucianism,
Daoism and Buddhism.
Records of gambling in the orient can be traced back more than 4000
years to China's first dynasty and many of today's casino games including Fan
Tan, Tien Gow, Mahjong and Pai Gow have their origins in this region.
The history of gambling here is richer and deeper than anywhere in the world.
Growth in gaming in Macau has been explosive, first in 1847 under Portuguese
legalization, then again in 1961 following communist China's designation of the
Special Administrative Region as a "permanent gaming region". Macau is now
the world's largest casino gambling centre; trumping Las Vegas by most
meaningful metrics including table numbers, turnover and visitors. In 2008,
despite China tightening its visa restrictions stemming the
flow of gamblers notably, there were 23 million visitors to Macau...most of them
there with one purpose in mind - playing at the casinos.
No casinos or no casino entry for locals
While casinos do exist in many Asian countries, (Philippines,
South Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore*) as a general rule they are there for
foreign tourists and laws forbid locals from using them. In South Korea,
with the exception of the remote Kangwon province casino, all casinos are open
to foreigners only. In Vietnam, any hotels rated four stars or above can
offer casino gambling but only to holders of a foreign passport. In
Singapore, current casino projects under development will likely, once opened,
be accessible by locals for a cover charge that tourist will not have to pay.
Malaysia's enormous Genting Highlands Casino is open to locals prepared to make
the trek and who are not Muslim.
Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan and Japan do not have casinos at
all for locals to play at.
Satisfying the hunger
To contend that a lack of terrestrial casino gambling options
for most Asians has curbed their ability to gamble couldn't be further from the
truth. Japanese players fly to South Korea's casinos; Vietnamese cross the
border to play at Cambodia' Grand Dragon Resort; Malaysians, Singaporeans,
Indonesians, Koreans, Taiwanese and Chinese fly to the gambling Mecca of Macau.
And for those that can't afford or don't like to fly, casino
ships anchored in Hong Kong and Singapore pick up tens of thousands of ethnic
Chinese weekly from mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia
and Taiwan and take them on 'a cruise to nowhere' which involves anchoring in
international waters so players can play the onboard casinos.
And then of course there's online play - growing in
popularity as internet penetration continues to rise across the region.
Building more Macaus
Perhaps finally stung by the realization that prohibitions imposed on locals
aren't that effective, and combined with a need to raise revenues in the wake of
the global financial meltdown, governments across Asia seem to be changing there
approach and casting an eye toward the riches generated in Macau as the model
for success.
New laws allowing for casino concessions and the development of mega resorts is
now a common theme. Singapore, in an ambitious effort to double tourist
visits by 2015 has given the green light to two multi-billion dollar casino
developments - the Marina Bay Sands from Sheldon Adelson and Genting
International's Resorts World Sentosa. Taiwan's Legislative Yuan just this
year amended long standing laws to allow for casino developments on the
surrounding Islands of Penghu, Orchid, Kinmen, and Matsu. In the
Philippines work continues on the $15 billion Bagong Nayong casino project.
And there are even rumors Japan may lift its casino prohibition to get a slice
of the regions gaming action.
In late 2007, Merrill Lynch put the value of gaming company investment in
casino development across Asia through to 2011 at a staggering $71 billion.
Some of these may have been put on ice with the recent credit squeeze, but many
casinos are still on the way.
For the time being though plenty of frequent flyer miles are being racked up as
players satisfy their appetite for blackjack and baccarat across Asia Pacific.
Players looking for regionally tailored (local currency / language) live casino
offerings:
Malaysia live casinos |
Macau live casinos
| Singapore live casinos |
South Korea live casinos
Vietnam live casinos
| Philippines live casinos
| Taiwan live casinos
| Japan live casinos
|
