The end of China’s Zero Covid policy and new concessions for Macau’s incumbents don’t signal the end of its problems. The once and future top global casino destination faces a Beijing regime that’s skeptical, if not downright hostile, toward gambling. Switching Macau betting to mainland China’s currency, the renminbi, might help assuage concerns over funds illegally leaving the mainland via casinos.
Even in extremely challenging times, Macau got seven bidders for its six casino concessions. Unfortunately, authorities didn’t use their leverage wisely to clean up a glaring conflict of interest and remove an underpeforming licensee.
Promised casino operator non-gaming investment will be most effective if targeted toward comprehensive efforts among all stakeholders to boost Macau’s destination appeal. But absent a government mandate, don’t bet on that happening.
Las Vegas Sands founder Sheldon Adelson and wife Dr Miriam Adelson (center) at the April 2012 opening of Sands Cotai Central in Macau, with then Macau Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai-on (left) and then Las Vegas Sands president and chief operating officer Michael Leven.
With high rollers increasingly scarce, Las Vegas Sands subsidiary Sands China is betting that fake London, alongside fake Venice and Paris, will bring in crowds . (Photo provided by Sands China)
Mainland high rollers can still gamble millions in Macau. Without junkets, though, they’ll have to find their own means to skirt China’s currency controls. And they’ll know exactly how Beijing feels about their activities.
Japanese authorities have made creating integrated resorts a mountainous task. Photo credit: JNTO
Hopes of creating the next big thing in Asian gaming skyrocketed as Japan began moving toward casino legalization in 2013. That enthusiasm has dissipated over these past eight years for a variety of reasons, and the smart money now bets building integrated resorts in Japan for billions of dollars won’t pay off.
I’ve been part of the negative wave that’s swept the Japan casino contest, due to culminate in the national government licensing up to three IRs next year. I’ve suggested that Japan stop the IR process to rewrite the rules and that authorities only award one IR license among the three current contenders, hoping for more attractive candidates to emerge later.
Caesars’ return to Japan – it dropped out the bidding at the time of the Eldorado purchase – is a reminder that Japan remains the world’s third largest economy, and it boasted rapidly growing international visitor arrivals pre-Covid. It’s also a reminder thatdefying conventional wisdom about Macau remade the global casino business two decades ago. Japan could have similar impact, despite what the smart money says.
When Covid restrictions ease, Asian gaming destinations will feel the impact of Chinese government policies to curtail overseas gambling, with Macau likely to suffer least.
The US$101 million theft from the Bank of Bangladesh account at the US Federal Reserve Bank of New York saw a majority of the funds sent the Philippines, much of it laundered via Manila gambling tables. A new BBC World Service podcast, The Lazarus Heist, looks at the theft in the broader context of North Korea hacking and other criminal activities. It’s a thoroughly compelling yarn.
Podcast producers reached out to me to help them understand the casino business in Asia. Some of my comments about Macau are featured in the ninth installment of the series, which begins in earnest around the seven minute mark, with my remarks beginning after 14:30.
I’m delighted to say that fellow CNN alumnus Mike Chinoy is also featured in the same podcast episode, sharing his insights into North Korea. During my 1991-1995 tenure in the CNN newsroom, amid the William Kennedy Smith (Blue Dot) rape trial and the OJ Simpson murder trial, Chinoy’s unflinchingly honest reporting from Beijing and North Korea – along with Christiane Amanpour’s life saving work in Bosnia – made us proud to be associated with the network.
Melco used “Stanley Ho’s strong and enduring links with Macau and its business community” to secure the land for its flagship City of Dreams resort in Cotai.
Australia Broadcasting Corp’s Four Corners investigation of Crown Sydney skewers James Packer and former New South Wales Premier Barry O’Farrell. It touches on links between Melco and Stanley Ho that the Hong Kong and New York listed casino operator has managed to hide in plain sight for 15 years. Melco’s culture of denial enabled its futile bid to acquire Crown that lost US$235 million while awarding a US$19 million bonus to the doomed deal’s architect, Melco chairman Lawrence Ho.
Muhammad Cohen 