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I’ve begun to blog for Forbes.com about the casino business in Macau and around Asia, which I’ve been covering for nearly a decade, now as editor at large for Inside Asian Gaming. Please follow my blog and visit my site and posts early and often since Forbes.com pays by the click.

If you are interested in the gaming business in Asia as an industry executive, player or investor, I hope you’ll find the blog pieces interesting. Even if you don’t care about gaming in Asia, I hope you’ll click to help me earn some money. Unlike playing in the casino, you can’t lose.

I’ll still post some non-gaming items here, so please stay tuned. I know how busy our lives are and how crowded the online world has become, so I truly appreciate your attention and support. I hope you’ll keep taking your chances with me.

Totally globalized native New Yorker and former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is a blogger for Forbes.com and author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about television news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his bio, online archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook and Twitter @MuhammadCohen.

Japan shuffles toward legal casinos

The land of the rising sun is the land of rising hopes for the world’s casino industry. As I wrote in Whale hunting, Japan style (see page 86), the world’s third largest economy is the last great frontier for gaming, and virtually every casino company in the world wants to be in it. Macau casino companies keep upping the ante, with spending pledges for a Japan project reaching $5 billion.

The article in the October issue of Macau Business points out there’s already a well-established market for gambling, including pachinko parlors with illegal payoff windows next door, Yakuza-run remote broadcast of live casino games from legal gaming jurisdictions, and the world’s most heavily bet horse racing.

For years, Japanese politicians have said that it’s time to make casinos legal, most notably Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who promised to push for casino legalization during his previous, truncated term succeeding Junichiro Koizumi in 2006. Last week, his ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) introduced casino legislation, and the long anticipated bill is widely expected to pass. This time, casinos are packaged as part of Abenomics, the prime minister’s plan to reform Japan’s economy and lift it out of its quarter century long doldrums.

The draft casino bill outlines a multilayered process for bringing casinos to Japan. The national bureaucracy will draft the rules, while local governments weigh whether they want casinos in their jurisdictions. Against the promise of investment, jobs and (mainly domestic) tourists, there’s the perception of gambling as a seedy activity, embodied by pachinko parlors with their legacy of money laundering, drugs and bribery. Japan’s National Police oppose casino legalization, along with some civic organizations, Buddhist groups and fringe opposition parties.

Gambling also has a reputation for government boondoggles, embodied in overbuilt publicly funded speedboat race courses and overstaffing at horse tracks. A government sponsored theme park construction initiative, with similar goals to casino development, fizzled into a puddle of wasted public money.

Mix in Japan’s inherent social conservatism, and, despite politicians’ support, casinos face an uphill fight. The seven year tease for the world’s casino companies may be over soon, or it may have only just begun.

Totally globalized native New Yorker and former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about television news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his bio, online archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook and Twitter @MuhammadCohen.

Casino billionaires risk all in brawl

When elephants fight, the grass gets trampled, according to an Asian proverb. Most animals know how far to take a confrontation without lasting consequences, but occasionally, one or both elephants gets gored.

For more than a year, Wynn Resorts chairman and CEO Steve Wynn and Kazuo Okada, his one-time largest shareholder and key financier, have dueled publicly. Last week, Wynn shareholders voted to remove Okada from the company board of directors, a day after Okada, the chairman of Japan’s largest pachinko machine maker, resigned amid leveling a blistering attack on Wynn.

Behind the boardroom drama, billionaire casino developers Wynn and Okada have traded allegations of numerous shady dealings in Macau and Manila. Bribery accusations, in dollar amounts ranging from the hundreds to the hundreds of millions, figure prominently in their charges. As I wrote in Asia Times, inviting regulators to scrutinize the casino business is a risky bet. That’s especially true in this confrontation, where neither elephant seems inclined to back off.

Totally globalized native New Yorker and former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about television news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his bio, online archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook and Twitter @MuhammadCohen.

Macau casino revenue numbers hide real news

Over the past few months, Macau casino revenues have disappointed. October’s new revenue record of MOP27.7 billion (US$3.46 billion), while welcome, represented a modest 3.2 percent increase over revenue a year ago. But behind the numbers, key changes are taking place that will transform Macau.

After years of increasing domination by VIP players provided by junket operators, for about a year mass market gamblers have been driving revenue growth. As I wrote in the October issue of Macau Business, the trend will show its biggest impact beyond the casino floor.

A related trend is the swing toward Cotai, covered in the July issue of Macau Business. Three casino operators already have resorts in Cotai, the entertainment area built on landfill between Macau’s outer islands, and this year the government has approved development applications from the other three. By the end of 2017, there will be at least six new developments in Cotai, built for some US$15 billion.

Things will surely be different by then. But Macau’s shakeup has already begun, with its effect felt as far away as Beijing and Wall Street.

Totally globalized native New Yorker and former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about television news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his bio, online archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook and Twitter @MuhammadCohen.

Holiday in Cambodia no longer a joke

Cambodia has come a long way since the days of the Khmer Rouge and the Dead Kennedys. A recent visit to Phnom Penh showed several sides of Cambodia’s renaissance.

I made the trip to see NagaWorld, the casino resort in Phnom Penh. The hotel features five-star rooms for US$60 a night, an epic breakfast buffet, and a variety of casino designs ranging from a Chinese garden to Dave & Buster’s inspired NagaRock. The whole package comes wrapped in Khmer hospitality with the kind of service you expect in Asia but is increasingly hard to find. NagaWorld recorded a net profit of US$92 million last year, and welcomed 490,000 visitors in the first quarter of this year.

NagaWorld has boosted Cambodia’s national rebuilding efforts. The company provides 3,600 jobs, nine out of ten to Cambodians. Parent NagaCorp became the first Cambodian company to list publicly when it raised US$95 million on the Hong Kong stock exchange in 2006. That listing and NagaWorld’s success have helped encourage fast growing tourism and foreign investment. A meeting with one due diligence consultant yielded a roll call of visiting New York money managers.

Cambodia’s main attraction for overseas visitors remains the ancient Angkor Wat complex, 188 miles (314 kilometers) from Phnom Penh. However, more than half of overseas visitors to Cambodia included the capital in their itineraries for the first time last year. Phnom Penh has plenty of charms. The Royal Palace and National Museum provide reminders of the country’s grand past, with many stunning pieces from Angkor. Opposite the palace begins a wide promenade along the Mekong River that visitors and residents enjoy. The city’s burgeoning nightlife district runs off the promenade, and there are still reminders of the French colonial past, from ochre mansions to baguettes.

Phnom Penh also has two key memorials to Khmer Rouge genocide under Pol Pot that killed up to 2 million people in late 1970s. Tuol Sleng, the prison known as S-21, and Cheoung Ek, the so-called Killing Fields, are deeply moving, no matter how cynical and heartless you may think you are. They also serve as reminders that similar madness can strike anywhere, even absent the race and religion multipliers, even in countries where the people seem as gentle and kind as they are in Cambodia. It’s a great place to visit that gives you a lot to think about.

Totally globalized native New Yorker and former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about television news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his bio, online archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com.

Singapore beats Las Vegas at its own game

Gaming industry analysts project that Singapore beat Las Vegas in casino revenue last year. That’s incredible given that Singapore’s two casinos were in their first full year of operation and total 320,000 square feet of gaming floor, while the Las Vegas Strip has decades of glamorous history, 39 casinos and nearly 3 million square feet of tables and slot machines

The Lion City’s success underscores the gaming industry’s argument that there’s huge unsatisfied demand for casinos in Asia. As I report in Asia Times, other countries in the region hope to copy Singapore’s model of casino development.

Singapore insisted that developers invest billions of dollars to build not just casino hotels, but integrated resorts (IRs) that feature a wide variety of non-gaming attractions. With Resorts World Sentosa weeks away from its second anniversary, the IRs no longer resemble construction sites and have become much more hospitable to visitors.

Marina Bay Sands had a severe fun deficit in its early days. But the world’s most expensive casino resort has blossomed into a destination worthy of its stunning architectural wrapper. Since the resort’s grand opening in June 2010, new additions include US import clubs Pangaea and Avalon, the first Singapore outpost of Banyan Tree Spa, a world class museum, and an ice skating rink, plus restaurants and bars overlooking the bay. Those new attractions along with the presence of people actively engaging the property, have overcome the initial imposing cathedral atmosphere. The arrival of Singapore’s MRT mass transit line this month will bring bigger crowds to add to the fun, and to Singapore’s lead over Las Vegas.

Totally globalized native New Yorker and former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about television news, love, betrayal, financial crisis, and cheap lingerie. See his biography, online archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com.

Rolling the dice in Thailand

Renowned novelist Christopher Moore has written with his usual insight on illegal gambling in Thailand. The longtime chronicler of Thailand notes the king-sized hypocrisy of police denying the existence of illegal gambling despite estimates of up to 1 million illegal gambling establishments in Thailand and, more to the point, bribes to police in connection with illegal betting of up to 8 billion baht ($275 million).

Moore suggests legalization of the estimated $12 billion underground industry, along with education on mathematical probabilities to counter Thai beliefs in luck and spirits tied to gambling. “Probability will teach children that there is no luck, no belief system or supernatural force that will intervene on your behalf in gambling,” Moore, perhaps best known for his Vincent Calvino crime novels and Land of Smiles Trilogy that all draw heavily on his understanding of Thai history and culture, says.

I interviewed Moore and several other knowledge sources for a report on prospects for casino legalization in Thailand in the February issue of Macau Business. International gaming companies have long salivated over the prospects of bringing casinos to Thailand. The combination of Thailand’s gambling-keen population of 65 million and more than 15 million foreign visitors make it the juiciest plum in Southeast Asia currently without legal casinos. But political and religious opposition have so far trumped the commercial opportunity. Groups that benefit from illegal gambling, including corrupt politicians and police, also oppose legalization. There’s also fear among some in the tourism industry that gambling could diminish Thailand’s appeal to visitors.

After the Thai general election in July, I wrote about whether the return of allies of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a supporter of gambling legalization, will help bring casinos to Thailand. Yingluck Shinawatra and her Phue Thai party have the difficult task of healing the rifts in Thai politics that widened after last year’s Thaksin loyalist Red Shirt occupation of Bangkok and subsequent crackdown that left 91 dead.

Christopher Moore says it’s time to get practical and make gambling legal. But the odds remain stacked against it until Thais find common ground on less divisive issues.

Totally globalized native New Yorker and former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about television news, love, betrayal, financial crisis, and cheap lingerie. See his biography, online archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com.

Stanley Ho family drama obscures bigger issues

With more characters than a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel, Macau magnate Stanley Ho’s handover of his casino assets has the makings of a prime time soap opera. The spectacle of the families of four wives who bore Ho 17 children fighting over an estimated $3 billion dollar fortune promises compelling viewing.

But the saga is a glittering distraction from the more important story of what happens to Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (SJM), the casino market leader in the world’s top gaming destination, and the rest of Ho’s empire without him. As I wrote in Asia Times, however the family drama plays out, it won’t resolve that question.

After initially stumbling in post-monopoly Macau, SJM has regained its overwhelming market leadership by following Ho’s business principles. Even while Ho has been sidelined since a late July 2009 fall at home, SJM has moved ahead. The key to its continued success seems to be less which faction wins control of the company but that the winners don’t get in the way of SJM management that seems to know what it’s doing.

Dispersing ownership widely, whether among two of his families or four of them, could be Stanley Ho’s way of ensuring that SJM isn’t dominated by someone who inherited the position. Whoever takes Ho’s place as Macau’s leading business figure will have to earn it.

Totally globalized native New Yorker and former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about television news, love, betrayal, financial crisis, and cheap lingerie.

Casinos make bad bets in Asia

The world’s two most expensive casino resorts are now open in Singapore, whether the Lion City likes it or not. As I wrote in Asia Times, Singapore didn’t want casinos, just the theme park, convention center, museums and other attractions that it was able to squeeze out the developers in exchange for allowing the gambling dens. However, Singapore’s nanny state ways limit casino revenue. That promises trouble for developers Las Vegas Sands and Malaysia’s Genting Group that are investing a combined $10 billion in their resorts, and for Singapore, too.

Singapore isn’t the only Asian city where casino developers are placing bad bets. Billionaire Steve Wynn’s infatuation with China’s government and disdain for the Obama administration got another airing at last month’s debut of his Encore Macau property. Wynn’s plan to plunk down another couple billion dollars in Macau illustrates precisely why to be wary of Macau, especially if you’re Steve Wynn.

Totally globalized native New Yorker and former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about television news, love, betrayal, financial crisis, and cheap lingerie.

Singapore lets the games begin

The first casino in Singapore opens this Sunday. The US$4.6 billion Resorts World Sentosa project features the world’s largest Universal Studios theme park, six hotels, and, later, the world’s largest aquarium. Later this year, Las Vegas Sands, owner of the Venetian resorts in Las Vegas and Macau, will open the US$5.6 billion Marina Bay Sands as Singapore’s second integrated resort, featuring Asia’s largest convention center along with its casino. Singapore’s government wants the added tourist amenities; to get them built, it’s willing to tolerate the casinos, albeit with restrictions on size and some key operations. The authorities bent the rules to enable Resorts World Sentosa, owned by Malaysia-based Genting, to open its casino in time for Chinese New Year before the Universal Studios theme park is fully operational. As the developers struggle to make these obscenely expensive resorts profitable, the high stakes game to watch is whether Singapore keeps bending the rules in their favor.

Totally globalized native New Yorker and former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about television news, love, betrayal, financial crisis, and cheap lingerie.