For the team here at Inside Asian Gaming, November means the annual Power 50 and a chance to reflect on the year that was. Given that we write somewhere in the vicinity of 2,000 articles every year, it can be easy to forget some of the major headlines that have shaped our industry over the past 12 months, so let’s take a quick look around the grounds, as they say, to see how Asia’s major jurisdictions shaped up in 2024.
For Macau, this was a year of true recovery for concessionaires, who are finally emerging from the horrors of the pandemic years with a renewed sense of optimism as to what lies ahead. It is also a very different market to the one we knew back in 2019, with junkets just about a thing of the past and the far more profitable mass and premium mass segments now dominating the local scene.
Some of the big stories of the year for Macau included the rise of MGM China, the rapid implementation of smart gaming table technology, the launch of Galaxy Macau Phase 3 and the final touches being put on Sands China’s Londoner Macao.
We will also welcome in a new Chief Executive before the end of the year, with former President of Macau’s Court of Final Appeal Sam Hou Fong recently confirmed to replace Ho Iat Seng, who is standing aside due to health reasons.
The big story in the Philippines this year was President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s decision to ban offshore gaming operations, or POGOs, effective 1 January 2025. The ban, in spite of a contrarian view from gaming regulator PAGCOR, follows a series of reports of companies posing as POGOs – some licensed, most not – to cover for serious illegal activities including human trafficking and cyber scams.
While the offshore gaming scheme is set to be shut down, domestic online gaming operations – referred to as eGames – have enjoyed explosive growth in 2024 to help drive the country’s gaming revenues ever higher, even at a time when land-based gaming growth has been subdued.
Australia’s casino operators have continued to struggle, with Star Entertainment Group in such dire financial shape as to very nearly become insolvent. The company has called in former Crown “savior” Steve McCann to work his magic after Crown – mainly under the leadership of Blackstone appointment Ciarán Carruthers – won back its casino licenses in Sydney and Melbourne. Profitability for either operator remains a long way off, however.
And it’s been a year for emerging markets, with both Thailand and the UAE attracting the interest of leading operators worldwide. The UAE is particularly exciting, with Wynn Resorts recently winning a casino license for the resort it’s well into building in Ras Al Khaimah and rumors that Abu Dhabi is most likely to issue a license of its own – MGM has expressed interest.
Thailand, meanwhile, pushed ever closer to legalizing casino gaming, with a bill on what it calls entertainment complexes gradually working its way through parliament. Uncertainty still remains over what the regulatory regime will look like, but the real question is whether Thailand might open its first integrated resort before MGM’s Japan development in Osaka.
A friend of IAG ’s once suggested that we’d picked a tough business because we would surely run out of stories within a year. As the Asian Gaming Power 50 proves each and every November, the real challenge in this industry is keeping up!
