The fifth annual ranking of the industry’s most influential people
Sponsored by: 
Welcome to The Asian Gaming 50 – 2012. We’re pleased to introduce a dozen new names to this, our fifth, annual ranking of the most important and influential people in the most dynamic of the world’s gaming markets. Their addition both reflects and illuminates, we hope, several of the defining trends of the last year. Each played a key role in propelling forward an industry that is growing not only in size but is becoming increasingly more sophisticated and diverse—and increasingly more competitive as new jurisdictions emerge, established markets mature and older ones strive to reinvent themselves and reassert their appeal.
The year saw the Singapore duopoly challenged for growth for the first time in its young history, while across the border in Malaysia an older rival got busy with upping its game. New brands and new operators guided Cambodia closer to the mainstream. The Philippines made headlines, and for the right reasons for a change, as the locus of a massive new integrated resort strategy and billions of dollars in fresh investment. Vietnam’s first IR moved closer to its much-anticipated debut. The Taiwanese took their first steps, albeit tentatively, toward embracing the economic potential of resort-scale casinos. The battle for China’s VIPs spread all the way to Australia, where scandal and skullduggery made for some engaging theater and re-energized operators have started angling for a slice of the big Macau pie.
New technologies and new platforms worked their magic on the look of the region’s casino floors, particularly in Macau, which continued to lead a still-fledgling Chinese mass market on the path toward maturity with ever more expansive and imaginative offerings in slots and multi-game tables. Notable, too, was the emergence of a splashy new poker sector, thanks to the creative backing of some of the big junket operators.
With the addition of so many new personalities, we’ve reluctantly had to bid farewell to others who have graced these pages in previous years. The most notable, of course, is Dr Stanley Ho, who has passed his incomparable legacy on to a new generation and has himself passed into the realm of legend. The leadership he exhibited for so many years, the quiet dignity, the sheer mastery of his touch, these will be missed.
About the Title Sponsor
Shuffle Master Asia is part of the global Shuffle Master family. Shuffle Master Asia specializes in providing its casino customers with products that improve table game profitability, productivity and security and increase the gaming entertainment options available to players. Its diverse product portfolio includes a full range of automatic card shufflers that can be used on virtually every card game, the industry’s most popular proprietary table games, side-bets and progressives, e-table platforms and traditional slot machines with content tailored to the discrete needs of the Asian market. www.shufflemaster.com
Associate Sponsors
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