IAG MARCH 2016

inside asian gaming
march 2016 #117 | 30 MOP
INDUSTRY PROFILE Kylie Rogers
TECH TALK
Virtual Reality’s Second Coming
Full Steam
Ahead
Asia’s shipboard gaming industry continues to thrive
www.asgam.com
IN FOCUS
Mother Knows Best:
Mainland China’s in uence over Macau




COVER STORY
Contents MArCh 2016
Cover Photo:
© Royal Caribbean International
6 Full Steam Ahead
Growing fast in Asia, cruises may not float the boat for serious gaming customers, but they’re another option to casinos for the wave of leisure travelers Macau covets.
INDUSTRY PROFILE
12
IN FOCUS
16
TECH TALK
22
28
BLAST FROM THE PAST
30
FEATURES
38
BRIEFS
42 Regional Briefs 44 International Briefs
46 Events Calendar
Kylie Rogers
Kylie Rogers is Vice President of Asian operations for Paltronics and also sits on the Board of the International Ladies Club of Macau. IAG caught up with the cheerful Australian over coffee in taipa to get to know her a bit better.
Mother Knows Best
Whether casino operators like it or not, China has the final word on the future of Macau’s gaming industry.
Table Gaming’s Killer App
18 months after launch, VisuaLimits’ VL-Focus is taking north American casinos by storm.
Virtual Reality’s Second Coming
Will virtual reality be e-gaming’s next big thing, or is it just an illusion?
Caught in the Net
our story from March 2013, which introduced readers to convicted singaporean match-fixer Wilson Raj Perumal who is back in the news. the Integrity Unit of the Dutch Football Association (KnVB) last month alleged that player Ibrahim Kargbo worked with Perumal to fix at least one match.
Easy Chairs
Casino furniture and fixture providers describe the impact evolving ergonomic technology is having on products and how they are using this science to help casino employees and customers.


EDITORIAL
Chief Executive Officer
Andrew W Scott
Managing Editor
Steven Ribet
Editor at Large
Muhammad Cohen
Other Regular Contributors
Paul Doocey, Kareem Jalal, Rui Pinto Proença, I Nelson Rose, Andrew W Scott
Graphic Designer
Rui Gomes
Photography
Ike, Gary Wong, James Leong, Wong Kei Cheong
Founder and Adviser
Kareem Jalal
◊
Chief Marketing Officer
Derrick Tran
Chief Operating Officer
Michael Mariakis
Director and Administrator
Cynthia Cheang
Administrative Assistant
Suie Ng
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4 inside asian gaming MArch 2016
China: Friend or Foe?
Welcome signs that macau’s gaming slump is at last bottoming out after 20 months of declining revenues last month prompted a rally in the shares of its gaming operators. Although it is far from a safe bet, if the operators assume the worst is now over, they might be taking stock of the downturn and deciding on how best to approach the future.
Unfortunately, a wrong-headed way of thinking seems to have emerged in the industry. Namely: one that sees the fall stemming in part from meddling by china. Some executives have even gone so far as to criticize Beijing for reneging on the “one country, two systems” promise it made for macau’s transfer of sovereignty. Under the principle, the Portuguese colony was guaranteed a high degree of autonomy. china has violated that autonomy, the critics say, through high-handed interventions in the Special Administrative Region’s main industry. Instead Beijing should let macau choose its own path. of course this path would be decided through agreement reached between the government on one side and the gambling concessionaires and local power elites on the other. But uncorrupted by the billions of dollars at issue, macau’s leaders would be impartial and free of Beijing’s interference to decide on what is best for macau and its people.
Among the concessionaires, Steve Wynn has been the most vocal of china’s critics. last october the tycoon described the government’s policy of caps on table numbers at new casinos as “preposterous”, “bewildering” and “irrational.” Beijing’s caprice, he implied, was causing Wynn to “refocus our energies here in America.”
The trouble with saying that mismanagement by china will prompt operators to reconsider investing in macau is, of course, that nobody believes it. Pro ts from macau have already propelled Wynn’s rival Sheldon Adelson into the ranks of the world’s very richest men. most analysts say Wynn’s next macau mega-resort, Wynn Palace, will be his most pro table venture yet.
As for “one country, two systems”, the principle’s main point was surely to preserve macau’s capitalist way of life. compared to before the transfer of sovereignty, the pillar industry underlying that way of life seems to be doing quite okay thank you. In any case, industry professionals’ judgments on “one country, two systems” won’t make a jot of di erence. china will dictate gaming policy in macau as it sees t, heedless of outbursts by foreign critics.
A more constructive attitude towards macau’s future suggests itself in light of these considerations. Instead of blaming china, operators might see the downturn as a correction necessary for long-term growth. They might admit that a large part of VIP play, the collapse of which accounts for almost the entire downturn, was mainland corruption money and therefore neither desirable nor sustainable. “Slowdown” when applied to china’s economy still means robust growth by western standards. macau has 16,000 hotel rooms under construction and better infrastructure on the way, so the future of its mass market seems well planned for.
And instead of seeing china’s communist Party as irrationally opposed to gambling in macau, operators would better acknowledge Beijing has both talented policymakers and a long-term interest in ensuring the city’s prosperity. As David Green of Newpage consulting puts it, “If you look back on comments made by Xi Jinping as far back as when he was Vice President you can hear him clearly urging macau to diversify. The writing has been on the wall, but until now no one has applied themselves to understanding what it means. macau’s challenge is to look beyond china for its future and expand into an international destination.”
Beijing’s consistent demand, in other words, has been that macau’s gaming operators must develop non-gaming attractions, following the example of las Vegas which today makes most of its money through non-gambling revenues. It’s a message that will surely be repeated over the coming weeks with the release of two important documents.
The rst will be the mid-term Review the government has commissioned from the University of macau’s Institute for the Study of commercial Gaming. The report will look at what has been achieved by the six concessionaires since the liberalization of gaming in the city in 2002. Speci cally, it will examine whether or not they have really delivered their promised integrated resorts, or just casinos with a few non-gaming tack-ons.
For the long-term, the macau SAR Government’s committee for the Development of a World centre for Tourism and leisure recently closed public consultation for its rst Five Year Plan covering 2016 to 2020. The document is due for release in the second quarter and will outline seven aspirations, including maintaining economic vitality, developing the structure of local industry and optimizing infrastructure in pursuit of creating an international tourism city.
Until now operators have been listening mainly to industry analysts. (Steven Wynn may well have been speaking for consumption by his shareholders.) morgan Stanley summed up the approach last october when it noted that “Non-gaming is a crowd puller, but a margin drag.” For the sake of a harmonious relationship with china, as well as macau and its future, however, they might start paying more attention to documents like those outlined above.
Steven ribet
We crave your feedback. Please email your comments to [email protected].




COVER STORY
AheAd
Growing fast in Asia, cruises may not oat the boat for serious gaming customers, but they’re another option to casinos for the wave of leisure travelers Macau covets
Full
Steam
By Muhammad Cohen, Editor At Large
Muhammad Cohen
also blogs for Forbes on gaming throughout Asia and wrote Hong Kong On Air, a novel set during the 1997 handover about TV news, love, betrayal, high nance and cheap lingerie.
ShIPBoARD gaming undoubtedly developed as soon as two sailors weren’t yanking an oar or pulling a sheet – that’s a rope for you lubbers. The riverboat gambler is a staple of American folklore, and the phrase resides in the American lexicon as a synonym for big risk taker. After New Jersey became the second US state to legalize casino gambling in 1976, some midwest jurisdictions bet on a revival of riverboat gaming with mixed results. In India’s Goa state, table games are only permitted on ships. Grand Korea leisure oated the idea of gaming cruises and got torpedoed by South Korean authorities. Floating casinos that didn’t leave the pier were xtures of pre-liberalization macau and gave NagaWorld in Phnom Penh its start in 1995.
These days, shipboard gaming in Asia overwhelmingly takes place on cruises plying international waters. once a vessel leaves national
6 inside asian gaming
MArch 2016


jurisdiction, generally three miles o shore, it’s free of restrictions on gaming and any sovereign regulation of it. International cruise lines include casinos among their entertainment options, while smaller operators o er cruises to the high seas speci cally for gaming.
cruise ship gaming remains lucrative in east Asia, with shipboard gross gaming revenue estimated at more than US$500 million last year, roughly double the likely size of the Vietnam gaming market. Gaming cruises stay a oat despite the expansion of the region’s land-based casinos in terms of location, size and attractions. many in the industry deride shipboard gaming as the redoubt of penny ante players, and contend that it poses no signi cant competition to land based casinos. But as VIPs shy away from major gaming hubs, and macau attempts to diversify as a tourism and entertainment destination, cruise ship casinos may prove a bigger factor in regional gaming than the presumed smart money believes.
Walk down hong Kong’s canton Road and you may be approached with the o er of a free ocean cruise. That’s the blunt end of a surprisingly robust and sophisticated gaming segment. Genting hong Kong’s Star cruises runs overnight outings from hong Kong on Star Pisces with a capacity of 1,000, and two-night high seas cruises from Singapore in addition to longer itineraries. lower in the market, most cruises-to-nowhere operators sail a single vessel for up to 500 customers, dubbed “pirate ships” in the industry.
While grabbing customers o the street is a crapshoot, gaming cruise operators generally run their businesses much like other casinos in the region. They rate players by average daily theoretical and run loyalty programs. They have VIP rooms and work with junket agents, most doubling as subagents in macau. Ships include pawn shops, “a mini-macau,” one cruise executive says.
LOW COST CONVENIENCE
So why don’t cruise players go to the real macau or another casino in the region’s burgeoning land-based gaming industry? For customers, the main factor is convenience. Passengers board, perhaps have a quick meal or nap in their cabin and within minutes of casting o ,
they can start playing. No hassles with ferries, macau immigration or shuttle buses. Singapore residents avoid the SG$100 (US$70) entry tax at the city’s integrated resort casinos. For rated players, cruises are generally free. minimum bets are lower than those at macau or Singapore tables. on the VIP side, commissions can reach 1.60% of rolling, compared with 1.25% in macau. credit to junket promoters can run up to hK$50 million per cruise.
on the business side, all cruise ships have signi cant cost advantages over land-based casinos. Because they operate on the high seas, they pay neither gaming taxes nor compliance costs connected with regulation. Workers recruited from low wage countries such as the Philippines and Indonesia get low salaries, though they don’t pay taxes and have room and board provided. A gaming cruise’s breakeven point for a customer can be as low as hK$100 (US$13), an industry insider says. International operators, with dozens of ships, buy in huge bulk, feeding and otherwise accommodating thousands of people a day, and can negotiate big discounts from suppliers. The falling price of oil has cut one major operating cost; Star cruises reported fuel costs decreased 41% though it also recorded a loss on fuel hedges for the
On the business side, all cruise ships have signi cant cost advantages over land-based casinos. Because they operate on the high seas, they pay neither gaming taxes nor compliance costs connected with regulation ... A gaming cruise’s breakeven point for a customer can be as low are hK$100 (US$13), an industry insider says.
MArch 2016 inside asian gaming 7
COVER STORY


COVER STORY
Most Chinese travelers are not primarily looking for gaming, but many do want a vacation experience that includes casinos among other entertainment and leisure options. at puts Macau casino operators on a collision course with the onboard gambling o ered by the international cruise operators that are steaming full speed ahead into Asia.
Gaming’s
Sea Star
dreams Big
By Muhammad Cohen
A rivAl executive cAlls stAr cruises
“a casino company that happens to be on ships.” Star is a division of Genting hong Kong, part of Genting Group, the conglomerate that includes the global Resorts World casino brand stretching from Singapore to New York to the UK. Unique among cruise lines, Star’s revenue mix is dominated by casino revenue. Above this, however, it is Asia’s leading cruise company, ghting hard and dreaming big to defend that position amid the growth of international cruise lines in its home waters.
Star currently has six vessels in the region, including two it moved to home ports in china during the past year. SuperStar libra relocated from Penang in malaysia to Xiamen in Fujian Province last July for cruises to halong Bay and Danang in Vietnam. The vessel, with a capacity of 1,338
passengers, then transferred to haikou on hainan Island for its annual ve month stay to the end of march.
In January, Star’s largest cruise liner SuperStar Virgo moved up the coast from hong Kong to Nansha in Guangzhou, where Star will help develop an international cruise terminal as part of china’s plan of becoming a global cruising center. Virgo, with a passenger capacity of 1,870, sails on two night cruises to hong Kong each week and then ve night itineraries to halong Bay, Danang and Sanya on china’s hainan Island. Star Pisces is the line’s third hong Kong-based ship, with a capacity of 1,009 passengers. It sails on one night cruises, with published rates as low as hK$520 (US$67) per person, based on double occupancy.
From Singapore, where the group’s Genting Singapore unit operates Resorts World Sentosa, SuperStar Gemini cruises from two to ve nights to destinations in malaysia and the high seas, carrying up to 1,530 passengers. Based in Taipei’s port of Keelung, SuperStar Aquarius makes two and three night cruises to Japan for up to 1,511 customers. lastly, Taipan in Penang targets private parties and mIce events for up to 130 passengers, featuring a mini-submarine to explore the briny deep.
REVENUE REVERSAL
Star’s ships are smaller than those of global cruise lines and its prices tend to
be lower, but that alone doesn’t explain the discrepancy in its revenue streams. While global cruise lines get about three-quarters of their revenue from passenger tickets, Star’s ticket revenue typically accounts for less than 30% of its cruise revenue. The rest comes from so-called onboard revenue, mainly gaming in Star’s case.
Genting hong Kong, listed in hong Kong and initially named Star cruises, broke out Star’s gaming revenue until last year, but now adds it to onboard revenue gures, following cruise industry practice. In 2014, Star’s gaming revenue was US$349 million and accounted for 63% of its total cruise revenue, up from 58% of US$316 million the year before. For the rst half of 2015, the onboard revenue category, which includes income from retail, alcohol, internet usage and other extras plus gaming, was US$166 million, compared with US$187 million in 2014 (with $167 million from gaming alone). Full year results will be released in the weeks ahead.
An overhaul of Star’s cruise business that changed the company’s structure resulted in record pro ts of US$2.2 billion for the rst half of last year. Genting hong Kong, a partner in Travellers International hotel Group that owns and operates Resorts World manila, has been selling down its interest in Norwegian cruise lines since Norwegian’s January 2013 IPo, from 50% to 18%, after a 10 million share sale last may. The disposal triggered
8 inside asian gaming MArch 2016


rst half of 2015. low costs help fuel gaming cruise marketing e orts that resemble those of US regional casinos, including free berths and other incentives for customers who’ve stayed away.
Gaming cruises are a decidedly niche product. “It’s a particular market segment that will get on board, sail out, punt all night and into the early morning hours, and then get o around noon and head straight into the o ce. It’s not for the faint hearted!” Global market Advisors Asia Regional o ce head Shaun mccamley says. moreover, there’s no opportunity to try your luck at a di erent casino, and other amenities are limited. “Bottom line, the cruise business has never been felt to be a threat to land based casinos, and even with the turmoil today, I don’t see that ever changing,” mr mccamley, who once worked with gaming cruises, says. For VIPs and other serious players, cruise ships aren’t on the radar.
But Asia’s high roller market has rolled into rough seas. macau’s VIP gaming revenue tumbled from US$29.8 billion in 2013 to $16.2
billion last year, a 46% decline over 24 months. Some changes impacting the mainland premium segment may prove permanent. South Korea and Singapore also experienced signi cant drops in VIP revenue last year. The combination of falling revenue and government policy directives have led macau to refocus on becoming a leisure and tourism destination, with resorts o ering a wide range of non-gaming activities. The goal is to cater to china’s burgeoning middle class. most chinese travelers are not primarily looking for gaming, but many do want a vacation experience that includes casinos among other entertainment and leisure options. That puts macau casino operators on a collision course with the onboard gambling o ered by the international cruise operators that are steaming full speed ahead into Asia.
FULL AHEAD
Asia has become the world’s fastest growing cruise market, with china leading the way. ocean liner trade group cruise line International
COVER STORY
Star currently has six vessels in the region, including two
it moved to home ports in China during the past year ... In January, Star’s largest cruise liner SuperStar Virgo moved up the coast from hong Kong to Nansha in Guangzhou, where Star will help develop an international cruise terminal as part of China’s plan of becoming a global cruising center.
our mission to transpose the legendary six- star service standards of crystal cruises and to customize them to serve the fast growing chinese market and all our Asian guests,” Dream cruises President Thatcher Brown, a 25 year crystal veteran, said at the brand’s unveiling in November. Investment bank clSA’s chinese Tourists 2016 report cites a 70% compound annual growth rate in china’s cruise passengers for 2012-14.
In November, Dream cruises will launch the specially designed Genting Dream for 3,400 passengers. The new ship will o er the highest guest space and crew-to-guest ratios of any ship in the region, according to the company, and mandarin chinese as the primary language for frontline sta . Genting Dream will follow the routes of SuperStar Virgo, o ering embarkation from Nansha, hong Kong and Sanya. A sister ship World Dream is due for delivery in November next year.
“The launch of Dream cruises completes the company’s mission of having a brand for each of the three major cruise market segments – crystal cruises for the luxury segment, Dream cruises for the premium segment and Star cruises for the contemporary segment,” mr lim, the son of Genting Group founder lim Goh Tong who got his start in the family business with Star, said at the event. As Asia’s cruise market moves full speed ahead, mr lim hopes to prove his crew knows these waters best.
an accounting change – Norwegian became an asset rather than an associate – that caused revaluing of Genting’s shareholding to the tune of US$1.95 billion. cruise revenue for the period rose 2.5% to $265 million.
last may, Genting hong Kong completed a US$421.4 million acquisition of crystal cruises and its revenue helped o set lower gaming income. crystal runs round-the-world
cruises with two liners and has three more ships on order, to be delivered from late 2018 on. meanwhile, crystal is expanding into the luxury yacht and river cruise segments outside Asia, and plans to launch crystal luxury Air, featuring round the world private jet itineraries spanning two to four weeks.
Star has poached executives from crystal to launch Dream cruises, a premium product targeting chinese travelers. “It is
MArch 2016 inside asian gaming 9


COVER STORY
Association says volumes in the continent surged from 774,000 passengers in 2012 to 1.4 million in 2014, the last year for which gures are available. And analysts say growth certainly continued last year. For china the expansion has been more spectacular, from 217,000 cruise passengers in 2012 to 697,000 in 2014, making it that year’s seventh largest global source market for cruising, clSA’s chinese Tourists 2016 report states. Shanghai, Sanya on hainan, and Tianjin outside Beijing are the top three domestic departure ports, with South Korea, Japan and hong Kong the top three destinations, the brokerage says.
“[T]he chinese population is getting richer and aspirations are rising for more adventurous and exotic locations, driven by growing social media pressures,” clSA Regional head of consumer and Gaming Research Aaron Fischer and marcus liu write. “[W]e have largely seen a continuation of the 2014 trend, with hong Kong and macau lagging and a surge in ‘cooler’ holiday destinations to brag home about on social media.” The overall direction of chinese tourism works in favor of cruises, which o er the independence and choices of an individual excursion with the comforts of a group tour, particularly for shore excursions to “cooler” destinations such as South Korea and Japan where chinese is not widely spoken.
Global giants have joined local leader Star cruises (see sidebar) in the regional market. Royal caribbean claims to have the most ships with home ports in china, three in the mainland with a fourth coming and one in hong Kong under its Royal caribbean International brand that also sails from Singapore. Additionally, its celebrity and upscale Azamara club brand ships call into Asia. The rst of the line’s most advanced vessels, Quantum of the Seas, with a capacity of 4,150 passengers, transferred its homeport from the New York area to Shanghai last year. A second giant Quantum category ship will homeport in Tianjin after its inaugural cruise next month. Royal caribbean carried 400,000 passengers from the china market, including hong Kong, last year, registering 64% growth annually since 2009, a company spokesperson tells Inside Asian Gaming.
e overall direction of Chinese tourism works in favor of cruises, which o er the independence and choices of an individual excursion with the comforts of a group tour, particularly for shore excursions to “cooler” destinations such as South Korea and Japan where Chinese is not widely spoken.
Then there is the world’s largest leisure travel company carnival cruises, which sails from china, hong Kong, Singapore and Japan under its Princess and costa brands. Princess will take delivery of a new ship for Asia next year. In a US stock market ling accompanying 2015 results, carnival estimates 4 million annual chinese cruisers by 2020, noting, “The chinese government has expressed a strong desire to transform china into a leading global cruise region and is making substantial investments in cruise-related infrastructure.”
SPENDER CONTENDER
Union Gaming Securities Asia managing Director Grant Govertsen sees cruises as a strong contender for chinese travel spending. “It represents a new experience for mainlanders and therefore is likely to be something they will want to try,” he says. “The fact that these cruise ships happen to have a casino is icing on the cake.” The clSA report nds nearly 15% of its survey group had taken a cruise. Among the cruisers, 80% say they will consider taking another. (By contrast, among visitors to macau, only 8% say they want to visit again in the next three years.) About 70% of the survey group that haven’t tried a cruise would consider taking one.
10 inside asian gaming MArch 2016


cruise prices in the mainland start around RmB3,000 (US$460) in low season for a basic package, high by global standards, clSA says, with better rooms, alcoholic drinks, premium dining and shore excursions available at extra cost.
on board, however, the vessels o er an extraordinary range of activities, from 6am dancercise to last dance with a live band pushing 2am. Depending on the ship, passengers can select from a menu that usually includes yoga classes, Sudoku tournaments, Zumba classes, arts and crafts geared to destinations, mahjong, child and youth programs, lucky draws, indoor and outdoor pools, duty free shopping plus live music throughout the day and evening shows in di erent locations.
And, yes, there’s gaming. International cruise ship casinos may have 50 tables and 30 machines on the main oor, plus a VIP club with up to a couple dozen tables and private rooms. That may not be up to macau or las Vegas standards, but the customers are leisure travelers who want gaming as part of a broad entertainment menu, the same group macau is courting as it adds non-gaming attractions.
SUBMERGED REVENUE
cruise operators list their casino revenue under onboard revenues, along with payments for alcohol, internet, spa, retail and other passenger spending. last year, Royal caribbean’s onboard revenue was typical; 27% of its total cruise revenue (the rest is passenger ticket sales) or US$2.2 billion out of US$8.3 billion. An industry source says perhaps 10% of international carriers’ onboard revenue now comes from gaming, although the proportion is higher in Asia
Asia has helped open the eyes of international cruise executives to the revenue potential of their casinos.
and rising. For carnival, meanwhile, onboard revenue made up 25% of its US$15.5 billion total cruise revenue.
“I think that quietly the big international cruise operators are very happy these days with the revenues from the onboard casinos of cruises originating in mainland china,” Union Gaming’s mr Govertsen says. “I suspect it is still a very small proportion of revenue, but seems to be growing nicely.”
Asia has helped open the eyes of international cruise executives to the revenue potential of their casinos. carnival, which has cross marketing deals with casinos for some of its brands, says it is instituting a program aimed at expanding casino revenue. Royal caribbean names expanding Asian casino revenue as a growth driver in last year’s fourth quarter and is working to develop that side of the business.
cruise line executives aren’t the only ones innovating to grow revenue through shipboard gaming. central Vietnam’s port of Danang announced in January that it would allow visiting cruise ships to keep their casinos open while docked. only passengers can play, so there’s no loosening of Vietnam’s domestic gaming restrictions.
“The goal is simply to get cruise ships to anchor at Danang,” Global marketing Advisors Partner Andrew Klebanow says. “every time a ship makes port, it disgorges 2,000 passengers, which has a signi cant economic impact on the communities surrounding the port. In this situation, some passengers will take a day trip to hue, others will play a round of golf while others will just go to a beach resort.”
Imagine using a casino, even someone else’s casino, to attract visitors for non-gaming activities. maybe it’ll catch on.
MArch 2016 inside asian gaming 11
COVER STORY


INdUSTRY
PROFILE
IAG: Let’s start at the beginning. Tell us a little about your career before you entered gaming.
KR: I grew up in the suburb of liverpool and chester hill, in Sydney, Australia. my mother was a single mum who put herself through nursing school. To be honest I hated school and left in year 10. my escape from school came when I saw an ad in the paper for a job as a dental nurse, which I got; then I spent some time as a personal assistant before moving on into hospitality, pulling beers in a pub in Auburn in Sydney. But as soon as I saw the gaming room I was in – that’s all I wanted to do and I made the gaming room mine.
IAG: So that’s how you got into gaming?
KR: Yes, I started at Guildford leagues as their promotions manager then was contracted by a Sydney hotel in liverpool ... yes, strange to head back there ... I
ran the gaming rooms at a place called
the liverpool hotel and corner Pub, it
was a unique two-licensed venue with 60 machines. In my time there we won an award as the number one gaming venue for hotels in all of New South Wales!
Kylie
IAG: How did you join Paltronics?
KR: Stephen cowan was one of the owners of Paltronics and the liverpool hotel was one of Paltronics’ customers. Thankfully, one day Steve o ered me a job in sales in New South Wales. I said that’s totally not me, but he said that’s why he wanted me! he didn’t want someone who was trained as a sales professional but rather someone who just cared about people. I’ve been with Paltronics ever since – that was 16 years ago.
IAG: How did you come to Macau? KR: my husband-to-be was o ered a senior executive job here in macau with one of the large slots companies so I knew I was coming to macau. Steve at Paltronics asked me to open Paltronics Asia, up here in macau. They de nitely would have set up here anyway as Sands was a major client, but the fact I was coming to macau anyway just made it all
Kylie Rogers is not only Vice President of Asian Operations for Paltronics but also is on the Board of the International Ladies Club of Macau, a well-
known non-profit organization helping a number of charities and Macau’s needy since 1982. IAG caught up with the cheerful Australian over coffee in Taipa to get to know her a bit better.
12 inside asian gaming MArch 2016


My husband-to-be was o ered a senior executive job here in Macau with one of the large slots companies so I knew I was coming to Macau. Steve at Paltronics didn’t want me to leave the company, so I found myself opening up the Asian o ce for Paltronics.
There are co ee shops everywhere now which is very important if you were one who lived here in the early days! There are still some frustrating things that probably should have been changed a long time
ago but I’m happy that the macanese like the new way of macau. I understand some local people feel the city fast-forwarded too quickly in a way they weren’t ready for. For example, while wages have gone up the cost of living is crazy compared to what it used to be.
I’ll tell you something I hear from friends who used to live in macau and
who have gone home. They say, “there is nowhere like macau.” And they’re right. The macau expat community is full of people who care for each other – that is a fact!
IAG: Tell us a little about Paltronics. KR: Paltronics is famous for its jackpot management system. We also have gaming and non-gaming media interfaces. We take all of a company’s marketing content and place it throughout the entire venue. If
a jackpot is triggered, we make sure it is promoted and celebrated across the whole property. We have all the di erent types
of jackpots (links) that overlay the casino management system. In Australia Paltronics has about 35 sta in our Taren Point o ce and here in macau there are four of us permanently.
I have to give credit to Steve and the Paltronics Australian start up crew. When we started Paltronics we were really small and we had a major competitor that had 100% of the New South Wales market. In just a few short years we became number one in New South Wales – quite an achievement I say.
... I was pulling beers in a pub in Auburn in Sydney. But as soon as I saw the gaming room that’s all I wanted to do.
work out nicely. So I found myself opening up the Asian o ce for Paltronics.
IAG: How was the transition from Sydney to Macau for you personally? KR: Well at rst easy, there used to be a pub here back when I rst came called hQ. It was my second home – actually I lived above it, which was probably not such a great idea! I worked hard and partied hard and made a lot of friends. Three months later I was pregnant, and I was in shock. I was here to work and enjoy our adventure not to have babies!
I went from loving being in macau for the rst few months to resenting it ... it was not macau’s fault, it must have been the hormones! I wanted all the creature comforts of home and that was just not easy here ... do you know how important white non-sweet bread is to a pregnant
girl from oz? (laughs) Anyway in the end I loved being pregnant but it was a massive culture shock – now I had more that just myself and my husband chris to consider. I contemplated going home ... honestly what kept me here was I didn’t want to let down my new husband or my boss.
I thought becoming a mother would change life the way I knew it but it didn’t,
it just enhanced it. I just continued
working and having fun. Bella just came with us ... even to the occasional business meeting and expat poker game. We have two daughters now and they have the advantage of knowing another language and understanding that the world is a small place as all their friends come from all over the world. They think a plane ight is just like catching a bus ... doesn’t everyone do it all the time? Ah, the expat kid!
IAG: In your opinion how has Macau changed over the years since you arrived?
KR: over the last 10 years it has really changed in all sorts of ways. You know I am quite proud of macau for accepting
all of us westerners who suddenly came ooding in. We have been accepted graciously despite the fact that westerners bombarded macau when all the new casinos opened, starting around 10 years ago. I think the thing that has changed the most is the local macau people who have now embraced a lot more western culture.
FEBRUARY 2016 InSIDE ASIAn gAmIng 13
INdUSTRY
PROFILE


INdUSTRY
PROFILE
This year you will see Paltronics in every single macau concessionaire. We will have a Paltronics one link jackpot and media system running in most of their properties.
IAG: How do Paltronics o erings di er in the Macau market compared with Australia?
KR: We really had to enhance our standalone product to better t into a management system. It’s a scale issue, instead of hundreds of slots in a property like you might have in Australia, in macau you’re dealing with thousands of slots in a property and that necessarily meant having to grow the product to handle that kind of volume. Paltronics has also moved into the table market in Asia. It happened gradually. I would say 2015 was the year we genuinely became a player in the table market.
But aside from products, a big di erence is the way we do business here. In Australia, typically I would deal with one person at a venue. In macau I have to liaise with people from four departments: IT, marketing, Slots and Tables and one meeting can consist of 20 people and you!
IAG: What about the rest of Asia?
KR: Paltronics does business with most countries in Asia that have gaming such as Singapore, the Philippines, Vietnam and Korea. Going to these countries is a bit like starting all over again. In macau everyone knows each other and we are all friends
but elsewhere you have to build those relationships. You might be surprised to know that in the other countries sometimes we actually say “no” to a full system sale! Why? Well sometimes operators want a product because they’ve seen it in macau
– but maybe that product isn’t suitable for them as a smaller operator compared to the enormous slot oors we see here in macau. If we sell it to them, and eventually they decide that it was a waste of money, that’s not good for us in the long run. We have a standalone product that we believe suits smaller properties much better.
IAG: Who do you really admire in the industry?
KR: I really respect and admire cath Burns. From a gaming perspective she is smart, fair, respectful, she has a broad knowledge base and has endless energy and that’s what I love about her! No matter how busy
I am quite proud of
Macau for accepting all
of us westerners who suddenly came ooding in. We have been accepted graciously despite the
fact that westerners bombarded Macau when all the new casinos opened. e local Macau people have now embraced a lot more western culture. I’m happy that the Macanese like the new way of Macau.
she is she would never turn you away. I class myself lucky to know her the way I do.
IAG: What kind of growth do you predict in electronic gaming in the next few years across Asia?
KR: People have said there might be an oversupply issue and I think that might be true. But the place is so unpredictable! Steve’s predictions always seem to come true but I don’t want to quote him. he would be the one to ask!
IAG: Gaming is a very male dominated industry. As a woman, how is business in this industry di erent for you?
KR: I nd that people don’t have an issue with me being a woman at all. I
really think it has never come into it.
It’s more about your knowledge – and
it is important to be honest with your customers about what you know and what you don’t. I’m not an engineer or a technician and I’m honest about that. I know my limits and I think people respect my honesty. I have never been outwardly disrespected for being a woman and I think the industry has some great women in it and they are all embraced.
IAG: You are very active in the International Ladies Club of Macau. How did you get involved and what do you see ILCM’s role as?
KR: I used to go to all the Ilcm events and was asked to join the Board to focus on fund raising events. I knew I wanted
to help but cannot bring myself to detach emotionally from a lot of the sadness that comes with the charities Iclm supports. So I became the Director of Fundraising events; my job is to get the money! I do that, but what I do is nothing compared
to what the community service team of Ilcm achieve. They are sel ess and they are amazing. But it doesn’t matter what
I have done to change Ilcm; so many amazing women built it over a long period of time. As for the role the Ilcm plays in macau, I think it highlights the people that slip through the gaps and who need help, especially to the expat community.
IAG: What does Kylie Rogers like to do in her spare time?
KR: I love my girls and just happen to think they are cool kids so I try to take them everywhere. Travelling is my passion as anyone who knows me knows ... I just don’t like to sit still! Yes and I like to party that will be no surprise to anybody!
IAG: Where do you see yourself in ve to ten years?
KR: I’ve been with Steve at Paltronics 16 years and it’s been phenomenal. But ve
to ten years from now it would be time to pass on the Paltronics baton to a younger, more dynamic team. By then I hope to be surrounded by the family I left behind back in Australia – and it must be somewhere on the water! I hope that I have a successful family business. I’ll let you in on a secret – I’d like to own a pub or a bar actually, which again would be no surprise to anyone!
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MArch 2016 inside asian gaming 15


IFNEAFTOUCRUES
Knows Best
Whether casino operators like it or not, China has the final word on the future of Macau’s gaming industry
Xi Jinping, pictured here in
macau, is the most powerful man in Asia’s gaming industry.
“The notion that a person who spent two and a half billion dollars would not know how many tables they are going to have three weeks before they open is so preposterous that it is worthy of comment ... The table cap is the single most
counterintuitive and irrational decision that was ever made.”
Thus Steve Wynn last october lashed out at the policies of the macau government and by extension china. The chairman and ceo of Wynn Resorts was speaking in a conference call following a 38% drop in macau revenues reported in his company’s third quarter earnings announcement. Whether or not he was merely talking for the bene t of his shareholders, Wynn’s criticisms would have found
By Steven ribet 16 inside asian gaming
MArch 2016


sympathy among a minority in macau’s gaming industry, who see table restrictions as part of an overall policy agenda from Beijing that is hostile towards the city.
Yet Wynn’s words were ill chosen, because china holds all of the cards in deciding the fate of gaming in macau. moreover, when it comes to the city’s casino industry, at least, the behavior of china’s central government has been both reasonable and rational.
CHINA’S LEVERS OF CONTROL
Fair behavior or not, attacking china is always a bad idea because the motherland has so many channels of in uence over macau. Take, for starters, immigration. mainland tourists account for over two thirds of arrivals in the city and just over 90% of visitor spending. every citizen leaving the People’s Republic, for macau or any other destination, must apply for and be granted an exit visa.
“china has signi cant control in terms of its capacity to shut o the faucet, or at least turn the pressure down,” says David Green, principal of the regulatory, market and taxation advisors Newpage consulting. “From time to time, it has tightened the screws on visas. I think this re ects on the fact that macau hasn’t really succeeded in extending its appeal to gamers far beyond Greater china.”
china responded after the SARS epidemic scared international tourists away from macau and hong Kong, by introducing its Individual Visitation Scheme (IVS). The July 2003 measure allowed chinese from cities most likely to feed visitors to macau or hong Kong
to visit either city as individuals instead of in hitherto compulsory tour groups, giving a much-needed boost to both economies. It was only intended as temporary, but has not yet been revoked. Indeed, from 2003 to 2007 more and more cities were added. The number of cities whose citizens are eligible for the IVS now totals 49.
more recently, after labor Day protestors rioted in macau in 2007, china slowed down its visa approval process. The move was made without consulting macau’s government, and was seen by some as pressure on the former territory to get its house in order. china’s communist Party values social stability more than anything, perhaps, except keeping itself in power.
macau’s dependency on cross-border tra c from china will increase with the development of hengqin island. A Special economic Zone across the Xi River from macau, hengqin is being built up as a service satellite district to the city, with hotels and facilities for entertainment, conventions and leisure. In the future it will fall under the joint administration of macau and the city of Zhuhai. china will likely move its border controls back from the bridge between hengqin and macau to the bridge linking hengqin with the mainland. After that, not only tourists, but also thousands of workers will be moving freely, every day, between macau and Guangdong Province.
There is also currency controls; the amount of money the mainland allows visitors crossing over into macau to take with them. last September the PRc’s State Administration of Foreign exchange limited overseas ATm withdrawals to 100,000 yuan per
Macau’s dependency on cross-border tra c
from China will increase with the development of hengqin island. A Special economic Zone across the Xi river from Macau, hengqin is being
built up as a service satellite district
to the city, with hotels and facilities
for entertainment, conventions
and leisure.
MArch 2016
inside asian gaming 17
IN FOCUS


IFNEAFTOUCRUES
In addition to visa and currency controls, China can in uence Macau’s gaming industry more directly through its say in government policy. China’s State Council appoints the Chief executives of both Macau and hong Kong Special Administrative regions upon recommendation of a local Selection Committee.
year, down from 10,000 yuan allowed per day with no annual limit. It made the restriction in response to the souring national economy causing capital ight, although in December china took another measure aimed speci cally at macau. This was to clampdown on the widespread use of UnionPay cards to make fake purchases at the city’s pawnshops in order to get around currency restrictions. Nearly all bankcards issued in china are UnionPay cards, making this an e ective lever of control.
And in addition to visa and currency controls, china can in uence macau’s gaming industry more directly through its say in government policy. china’s State council appoints the chief executives of both macau and hong Kong Special Administrative Regions upon recommendation of a local Selection committee. It also has the power to sack them, as was made plain by the removal of hong Kong’s rst chief executive Tung chee-hwa in 2005. last December the structure of power over macau’s chief executive, currently Fernando chui, was on display when he delivered his annual report to President Xi Jinping in Beijing. Seated at the same table was the Director of the central People’s Government liaison o ce of the macao Special Administrative Region, Beijing’s point- man in the city li Gang. The fourth man at the meeting was Wang Guangya, Director of the hong Kong and macau A airs o ce of the State council, which is charged with formulating policy on macau.
Inside Asian Gaming made a formal interview request to the hong Kong and macau A airs o ce in Beijing, but they did not respond prior to us going to press.
To what extent does li, and above him Wang, call the shots in consultations with chui? chui’s predecessor edmund ho in 2008 famously said Beijing had instructed him to halt the construction of new casinos. “macau is like a typical chinese city. If there is a policy that Beijing says must be implemented, then the local government has to follow,” says eilo Yu, Associate Professor at the University of macau.
The debate about china’s control of the macau government seems to be more of an academic one, about terminology used to describe that control than whether or not the control is absolute. David Green, for example, prefers to say china exercises “moral suasion” instead of saying it “orders” or “commands.” But he adds, “I can’t recall an instance where chui has said something contrary to the central government policy line. Under the one country Two Systems policy it e ectively controls what happens in macau.”
e hong Kong SAr shares Macau’s ruling structure. Anti-Beijing legislators and groups in society there often succeed in blocking the government’s agenda. In Macau, however, every political group – from legislators and local business elites to trade unions and charities – can be said to be pro-Beijing.
of course there is more to power in the macau Special Administrative Region than the chief executive and the cabinet he appoints. The hong Kong SAR shares macau’s ruling structure. Anti-Beijing legislators and groups in society there often succeed in blocking the government’s agenda. In macau, however, every political group – from legislators and local business elites to trade unions and charities – can be said to be pro-Beijing. The result is
18 inside asian gaming MArch 2016


be natural for Beijing to be hostile to macau’s gambling industry. other Asian countries including Korea, Vietnam and Singapore have banned or placed heavy restrictions on their own citizens from entering the casinos they allow. They want the pros of allowing casinos, in the form of gaming tax and boosted tourism, without the cons of problem gambling, unscrupulous debt collection and other social issues.
china has it almost the other way around. macau’s casinos pay no gaming tax to Beijing and they don’t do a very good job of attracting overseas visitors (less than 10% of visitors to the city come from outside Greater china). While the operators have reaped supernormal pro ts, nearly all of the problems they create have been
eilo Yu reckons a ban by China on gambling in Macau for government o cials has been highly e ective. he talks about rumors of China’s anti- corruption police placing Macau’s casinos under surveillance, and even hacking into their customer databases. Whether true or not, he says the fear so instilled would scare civil servants from China well away.
that in policy, the macau government nearly always gets its way.
At the hong Kong Institute of education, Professor Sonny lo traces this di erence between hong Kong and macau back to the riots that blew up in the two colonies during the mainland’s cultural Revolution. Britain’s colonial government cracked down on the pro-china groups that made trouble in 1967 and dismantled them. So pro-Beijing elements in the colony’s civil society disappeared until negotiations for the transfer of sovereignty in the 1980s allowed them to re-emerge. During macau’s riots in 1966, however, mao Zedong forced the Portuguese territory’s weaker colonial government to climb down in the face of rioting communist Party supporters, and then repress groups loyal to its opposition, the
Kuomintang.
“We can say that macau was from thence on Sinicized, or
mainlandized,” says lo. “While hong Kong’s executive-legislative relations today are of confrontation, libustering and continuous disputes, executive-legislative relations in macau are characterized by relative harmony and smoothness of passage of legislation.”
MACAU GAMING; GOOD OR BAD FOR CHINA?
outsiders unfamiliar with macau’s history and its place as a Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic might think it would
eilo Yu, Associate Professor at the University of Macau.
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IN FOCUS


IFNEAFTOUCRUES
exported to the mainland and, to a much lesser extent, hong Kong. Gambling aside, the governments of china’s two SARs make no tax contribution to the central government’s co ers; unlike china’s 34 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. even foreign gambling cities like las Vegas make a contribution to the nation they belong to. For the provision of national defense, then, macau is getting a free ride.
When china gave the nod to macau’s 2002 gaming liberalization, it didn’t think the industry would balloon into something seven times the size of las Vegas, in 2013 making macau richer than any country in the world (ranked by the World Bank in terms of GDP per capita by purchasing power parity). more than this, it didn’t foresee that macau’s casinos and banks would become a conduit for corrupt chinese o cials to launder money stolen from china and transfer it into overseas accounts.
“At that time the so-called ‘rise of china’ was just beginning. Beijing didn’t anticipate the rapid growth of china and macau, and the amount of chinese money owing out through macau, to the extent that in 2013 it would have to set up the National Security commission to monitor this capital out ow,” says lo.
The US congressional-executive commission on china’s 2013 report cited a study nding that more than US$200 billion in “ill- gotten funds are channeled through macau each year.” enriched by his huge pro ts from macau, Sheldon Adelson has spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to in uence (some might say “buy”) US congressional and presidential elections. This had led some US commentators to remark, wryly, that corruption money from china is corrupting American politics. chinese academics, meanwhile, say this facilitation of corruption is the only issue important enough to make macau, with its 0.047% of china’s population, a personal priority of Xi Jinping.
In light of these harms, why doesn’t the mainland set up its own special zones to allow casino gambling say, on hainan Island or in Yunnan? That way it could keep the gaming revenues for itself and block o a major channel of capital out ow.
Nobody interviewed for this article thinks china would do this. To begin with, the communist Party fears casino gambling once legalized might run out of control, boosting organized crime and corrupting china’s society and government, perhaps to the extent that opium did in the 19th century. Bruce Kwong, who is an Assistant
It’s not a case of China wanting to put the genie back in the bottle. rather, China
is saying, ‘Macau has done unbelievably well out of concessions allowed under the Basic Law. It’s pro ted from unbridled growth and we’re the ones that have been subsidizing that growth. It’s time for Macau to pull its weight.’
Professor at the University of macau’s Department of Government and Public Administration, says deep-rooted ideological objections also gure. “According to the words of Zhou enlai, gambling is against the very concept of china,” he says.
historically, macau developed its gaming industry because it had few other resources to supply its livelihood, no deep-water port like hong Kong or world-class industries in law and nance. china recognizes this fact of the macau way of life. “Whether or not you believe the one country Two Systems policy is being observed, its ultimate purpose is still to act as a model for the reuni cation with Taiwan,” says eilo Yu. “If macau failed it wouldn’t just kill con dence towards the policy inside Taiwan, but also within hong Kong, which is still very important to china.”
To say hong Kong is more important to Beijing is not to say that macau or its prosperity don’t matter. Social unrest in a failed macau would be a nightmare for the central government. macau also serves as a diplomatic bridge between china and the lusophonic world; not just Brazil and Portugal, but also Portugal’s former colonies in Africa. eilo Yu says that macau’s role as a nancial intermediary between china and the outside world, although smaller than hong Kong, still gains it the protection of chinese o cials.
lastly, it’s not completely true to say macau doesn’t contribute nancially to china. every one of macau’s six gambling concessionaires has now invested in hengqin, and their billions now
20 inside asian gaming MArch 2016


david Green, principal of the regulatory, market and taxation advisors Newpage Consulting.
account for over half of the island’s stock of capital. The taxes the Special economic Zone pays after it becomes integrated with macau will go to china.
CHINA’S PROBLEM WITH MACAU
If china wants macau to prosper and has no intention of ending its gambling monopoly, whence the table limits, and the con ict between operators and regulators they give rise to?
Fortunately, china’s most urgent problem with macau has already been dramatically reduced. eilo Yu reckons a ban by china on gambling in macau for government o cials and senior o cers in state owned enterprises has been highly e ective. he talks about rumors of china’s anti-corruption police placing macau’s casinos under surveillance, and even hacking into their customer databases. Whether true or not, he says the fear so instilled would scare civil servants from china well away. It’s not clear if the ban will eventually be lifted, or remain in place for good.
As for what china wants from macau in the long run; it’s been making that clear for years. President hu Jintao, for example, said the region should be “strengthening and improving the management of the gambling industry, diversifying the economy and lifting living standards,” in a speech made in macau on the tenth anniversary of its handover. Xi Jinping urged “long-term economic diversi cation” during his rst visit to macau as Vice President in the same year. he has repeated the message several times since.
In Australia, gambling policy has traditionally been decided at the level of state governments. Separate states started moving ahead to regulate online gaming during the 1990s. The federal government, concerned about proliferation and the potential for damage to be in icted by operators outside Australia’s jurisdiction, stepped in and used its constitutional powers to pass a countrywide ban.
David Green cites this example to argue in favor of Beijing taking control. “It’s not a case of wanting to put the genie back in the bottle,” he says. “Rather, china is saying, ‘macau has done unbelievably well out of concessions allowed under the Basic law. It’s pro ted from unbridled growth and we’re the ones that have been subsidizing that growth. It’s time for macau to pull its weight. There should be a real e ort to generate attractions and employment opportunities that have nothing to do with non-productive gambling. We need this industry appealing to more than chinese. macau has to expand into an international destination.’ ”
macau’s operators turned a deaf ear to Beijing’s repeated calls, Green adds, until the downturn forced them to start listening. “All you heard from them were comments on the high propensity of chinese to gamble. They were clamoring for 700 or 800 tables, even though no casino in the world has that many. It was very clear who their target was,” he says. “There was a need to break the cycle. Given the real costs would end up back to china, it made perfect sense for Beijing to act in the way it did.”
“I think the industry did itself a disservice,” says Green. “Until about 18 months ago all you ever heard was ‘how many tables can I get?’ The message the government wanted to hear was not how many tables, but how can I broaden the appeal of macau by adding to the stock of non-gaming attractions.”
Seen from this point of view, Beijing’s behavior starts to seem less like interference with macau’s autonomy, and more like prudent management of a potentially dangerous industry.
of course Xi Jinping will never go on the record to say exactly what he wants to do. Keeping people guessing has always been the chinese way. But perhaps Bruce Kwong’s opinion is a good approximation of what the paramount leader is thinking.
“Beijing doesn’t want gambling in macau to grow beyond a certain size, and it doesn’t want an industry that only acts to drain cash from china,” the macau University professor says. “china will seek to control the development of the gambling industry. china will also seek to develop mechanisms that facilitate this control.”
MArch 2016 inside asian gaming 21
IN FOCUS


TECH TALK
Table Gaming’s
Killer App
18 months after launch, VisuaLimits’ VL-Focus is taking North American casinos by storm
By Steven ribet
The iPhone revolutionized telephony. Packing di erent tools, Swiss army knife-style, into a single device, it knocked traditional ip phones out of the market.
The Nevada rm Visualimits thinks it can do the same for table gaming, an area in the casino industry where innovation has historically been thin and slow. Its intelligent table limit sign goes way beyond telling gamblers how much they can bet.
Vl-Focus, as the product is called, is also a tool for marketing, customer relationship management, sta management, security, dispute resolution and optimizing resource allocation. Some 18 months after moving beyond pilot trials, over two thousand units are now installed in North American casinos. Visualimits recently found a distributor in europe. Now it is adapting its o ering for a push into Asia.
“our product started out a decade ago as an advertising tool with basic analytics,” says Vl-Focus’ developer and company coo Ryan mcclellan. “Then ve years ago we got the idea to make it into something really useful for table games, with a tool for every di erent department.”
The basic hardware for Vl-Focus is a double-sided screen display. Positioned at a corner of a gaming table, the front side of this main unit faces the players with two cameras hidden above its screen, while the back side is a slanted touch-screen operated by the dealer. This main unit is connected to a second double-sided display pole- mounted above the tables tted with two more cameras surveying
VisuaLimits COO
Ryan McClellan
shows o his invention at this year’s International Casino Expo in London.
22 inside asian gaming MArch 2016


MArch 2016 inside asian gaming 23


TECH TALK
Modern casinos contain hundreds
of ceiling-mounted cameras, although their distance and angle often makes them inadequate for detecting cheats and judging disputes. VL- Focus o ers a much fuller view.
the layout. like the tools in a Swiss-army knife, casinos can pick and choose the modules, or applications, they want packed into the system. here’s a run-down of those tools:
INFORMATION FOR GAMERS
The Vl-Focus system includes a sensor in the discard rack, so it knows when the dealer is dealing, when the game is in-between hands and when the dealer is shu ing. Its player-facing screens can display table limits along with information on when those limits will change or when the table will close; say in a certain number of minutes or at the end of a shoe. crucially, the change in displayed status takes place automatically as scheduled. other rule changes, such as no mid-shoe entry when the minimum exceeds a certain amount, or a drop in the minimum when the table has sat idle for 30 minutes, can be customized as well as timed automatically. The same goes for targeted advertisements, played only during downtime and selected in line with the table’s limits. In other words, mcDonald’s and coors beer at a $5 minimum bet table, and leer Jets and Beluga caviar at a $5,000 minimum bet table.
SECURITY AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION
modern casinos contain hundreds of ceiling-mounted cameras, although their distance and angle often makes them inadequate for detecting cheats and judging disputes. Vl-Focus o ers a much fuller view. The two cameras in its pole display look directly down on the
table. one of the main display’s pair of cameras views the table. The other, a sh-eye, looks up at the players. “From low down and close up its easy to see the faces of excluded players or known cheats, even if they’re wearing hats. You’ve also got a side view of chip stacks in 1080p detail,” says mcclellan. on-the-spot playback can start automatically from the beginning of a chosen hand. The casino might allow immediate resolution of disputes over small wagers, or send footage of a speci ed hand directly to security. either way, game downtime or the time taken to search through footage is reduced.
CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
Dealers can order drinks or tobacco for players, or request speci ed hosts via their touchscreens. They can also make restaurant reservations and be noti ed when a dining table is vacant. A dealer may be alerted when a VIP sits down. When a player buys in for a certain amount, a host may automatically be called to come over and greet them. Visualimits has made its system compatible with player tracking and rating software provided by other gaming suppliers. If a table is closing, the system can nd vacancies at other tables with similar limits and hold the empty seats until the migrating players arrive. most impressively, a ticket-in ticket-out (TITo) function has been incorporated to allow players to move, cash-free, between slots and tables. Promoting such “cross-play” reduces demand on the casino cage, as well as time spent by players cashing out.
24 inside asian gaming MArch 2016


STAFF MANAGEMENT
In addition to monitoring sta punctuality via swipe card login, video- analyzing software in the Vl-Focus main unit can measure the number of hands a dealer is getting through each hour. “Normally, a casino might review a dealer’s performance once a month by surveilling him or her for a quarter hour and then multiplying by four to get the hourly gure. With our system dealers can assess themselves hour-by-hour,” says mcclellan. he reckons a ve percent increase in e ciency, or two extra hands per hour, via such self-coaching is a realistic target. When attained, he says the gains would typically pay for the system in 6 months. conversely, if reviewed footage shows a dealer underpaying or overpaying a player, a pit manager has the ability to use the system to submit an incident report. Too many such reports in a given month might call for mentoring, or identify a speci c dealer as a liability.
ANALYTICS
lastly, information from every Vl-Focus equipped table in a casino can be fed into a central computer, digested and analyzed for weekly or monthly reports. In this way, a casino manager can ne-tune variables like limits, sta ng levels for di erent shifts and tables allocated to di erent games or smoking/non-smoking, for optimized overall resource allocation.
Further capabilities now under development include card recognition and chip recognition, which will enhance Vl-Focus’ value as a tool for analyzing play and tracking cheats. While facial recognition technology may work for biometric passports, mclellan says the technology is still far away from being useful for his purposes.
With Asia in mind, mcclellan has nished an application for baccarat; to analyze how long it takes a dealer to stage a table, bring out the cards and nish a round.
The earliest version of Vl-Focus was created in the middle of the last decade by combining the ideas of two men. mcclellan, who was a young pit technician at Detroit’s motor city casino, had the idea of putting a sensor in a discard rack to track cycles of play. While there he met up with Perry Stasi, an executive who had been in the business for 25 years, who wanted signs to display advertisements to players during downtime. Development really took o ve years ago, with the idea of incorporating cameras for more sophisticated monitoring and analysis.
After a six-month pilot test, the rst mature Vl-Focus units were installed in US casinos in mid-2014. Since then sales have mushroomed. Today they are on over 2,200 tables in 36 North American casinos. The most recent installation was 155 units in Atlantic city’s Borgata. While few customers opt to buy every module, mcclellan says the most popular functions are dealer analytics and messaging (for drink requests, hosts and so forth).
having recently taken-on eurocoin as its distributor in europe and Africa, Visualimits is now gearing up for a push into the Asian market. mGm is an existing customer in the US, which may help the company crack into the macau market, given mGm’s presence in the continent’s gambling capital. In any case, macau’s casinos are under extreme pressure to improve e ciency, given the limited table quotas they are being given by the government. “There are only two ways to improve pro tability: manage limits and manage dealer performance,” says mcclellan. “We can help casinos do that. It’s their quickest way to earn more money.”
Further capabilities now under development include card recognition and chip recognition, which will of course enhance VL-Focus’ value as a tool for analyzing play and tracking cheats. With Asia in mind, McClellan has nished an application for baccarat; to analyze how long it takes a dealer to stage a table, bring out the cards and nish a round.
MArch 2016 inside asian gaming 25
TECH TALK


26 inside asian gaming MArch 2016


MArch 2016 inside asian gaming 27


TECH TALK
Virtual reality’s
Second Coming
di erent xed odds. In Italy, where Inspired has a 95% market share, its virtual sports bring in a quarter of the turnover of betting shops where they feature.
last year, Inspired signed a 15-year exclusive deal with mike Tyson. Virtual sports fans will be able to bet on a range of opponents pitted against the boxer in a new product launched in September. A few months later they will also be able to don a VR headset and slug it out with Iron mike themselves.
The gaming company travelled to the boxer’s personal gym in Nevada to develop its Virtual Rush Boxing game. mike Tyson put on a special suited covered with tracker dots and sparred with his trainer. Inspired’s engineers erected a huge motion-capture rig around the ring, kitted out with over one hundred cameras. They also gave him a full body scan, to model his physique and facial features.
Beating Tyson will win players the game’s jackpot, with odds at perhaps forty to one. (The chances of your average punter lasting more than ten seconds in real life would, after all, be somewhat below average.) Inspired also worked with a range of lesser ghters, to o er players a stable of twelve alternative opponents at better odds.
Inspired is also developing a VR horseracing game, although it won’t be interactive. Players will see a race through the eyes of their chosen jockey; looking ahead at the track, looking behind (hopefully at all of the other horses) or looking to the side at spectators in the grandstand, without controlling the horse.
Will virtual reality be e-gaming’s next big thing, or is it just an illusion?
By Steven ribet
VIRTUAl reality was touted as the next big thing in the 1990s. But it opped after it became clear that existing technology, for consumer purposes at least, was not up to producing a convincing experience. Two decades on faster computers, better screens and graphics, and improvements in motion tracking sensors have prompted a second push. Samsung and Taiwan’s hTc have both launched virtual reality head-mounted displays (or VR headsets) for the consumer market.
later this year Sony will follow suit. So two British e-gaming rms are taking advantage of these developments to bet that for gambling, VR is a technology whose time has come.
“The idea is that you’re more involved. everyone wants to be that footballer on the football pitch; to see it from that point of view. And instead of just betting on your team, crossing your ngers and hoping things are going to happen, you can actually impact the outcome,” says Steven Rogers, coo of Digital Games at Inspired Gaming. “With VR you’ve got money riding on yourself. We’re crossing over from passive observation to a skill-based product.”
Inspired has achieved a turnover of about US$160 million as a leader in virtual sports. In some 30 countries including the UK, Italy and china, betting shops use its software to allow players to wager on 90-second matches of sports including tennis, football, horse- racing and motor racing. It’s pretty much like a hD computer game, with a choice to bet on players (or teams or horses or drivers) at
At this year’s ICE trade show in London, visitors to the booth of British e-gaming supplier microgaming were invited to don an Oculus Rift DK2 virtual reality headset, equipped with a Leap Motion 3D Controller.
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After launch, Rogers doesn’t foresee Virtual Rush Boxing or other VR games on o er at betting shops. “I can’t see a 55 year- old in the UK donning a VR headset,” he says. “I’m not sure if the industry is ready for it. even self-service betting terminals are a relatively recent addition to betting shops.”
The most popular context for play he reckons, will be online; as in young men having friends around on a Saturday, in the same way as they would to watch a soccer match. Social consumption could be a big part of VR gambling. Rogers says, “The social aspect always comes up when we ask players what they like about our products; meeting mates at a betting shop for chat and banter. I’ll bet you that liverpool will beat man U. That sort of thing.”
casino gaming is therefore an obvious application of VR. “The casino experience brings people together,” says Rogers. “Imagine sitting at gaming table in las Vegas with a girl dealing cards and friends playing each side. But in reality one of your friends is in North Wales and the other is in Bangkok. And you’re not getting ripped o for drinks.”
Perhaps this line of thinking is behind microgaming’s choice of roulette as its rst VR development product. The Isle of man- headquartered e-gaming creator invited visitors to london’s Ice trade show this year to put on Samsung oculus Rift DK2 headsets. once so equipped, they found themselves sitting on an asteroid, with a robot croupier manning a roulette table in front and, if they turned their head around to look at it, a giant planet hovering behind. each headset was tted with a leap motion 3D controller; a kind of “touchless mouse” that detects and maps a user’s hand movements in three- dimensional space. A player in this way could
“Imagine sitting at gaming table in Las Vegas with a girl dealing cards and friends playing each side. But in reality one of your friends is in North Wales and the other is in Bangkok. And you’re not getting ripped o for drinks.”
reach out his or her hands, which appeared, robot-like in VR, and place bets on the table.
“The product was devised by our research and development team, who are tasked with looking three to ve years into the future and experimenting with disruptive technologies,” says microgaming’s head of Product channels Neill Whyte. “mass adoption is what the industry is waiting for. Remember, mobile was talked about for many years before its tipping point was reached. What we’re doing with wearables feels very similar to how we approached mobile; we are preparing for what could be around the corner.” Whyte says his company is “working on several other exciting concepts, including the use of online slots” on the Samsung VR headset.
Virtual Reality promises more intense, more immersive gaming experiences to a
generation that has grown up with all of the bells and whistles that modern consumer technology can provide; such as Xbox games consoles and giant, 4K televisions. But is it heretostay?orwillitgothewayof3DTV and Google Glass? And for gambling, does it really have something lasting to add?
of course the honest answer to this can only be that we don’t know. Steve Rogers says Inspired has invested “in the low millions” so far as part of “innovation in a measured approach.”
“I’m skeptical,” he says. “I’m not going to go down the route of developing all of our games with VR in mind.”
Says Rogers, “You develop one or two cool products, get user groups involved, and then see how the market reacts. There is a speed at which you can evolve and you have to take the player with you.”
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TECH TALK
“ e idea is that you’re more involved ... And instead of just betting on your team, crossing your ngers and hoping things are going to happen, you can actually impact the outcome ... With Vr you’ve got money riding on yourself. We’re crossing over from passive observation to a skill-based product.”


BLAST FROM THE PAST
MArCh 2013
CAUGHT
In the NET
This month’s Blast from the Past is very relevant to news breaking across the sports betting world right now. Our cover story from exactly three years ago, March 2013, provided IAG readers
with in-depth analysis on the industry scourge of match xing and the fact that much of it is controlled from Asia. Our story also introduced readers to convicted Singaporean match- xer Wilson Raj Perumal who
is back in the news in Holland, where the Integrity Unit of the Dutch Football Association (KNVB) last month alleged that Ibrahim Kargbo, who played
for the country’s top- ight Eredivisie team Willem II Tilburg between 2006 and 2010, agreed to work with Perumal to x at least one match, in 2009 (see separate story in this month’s International Briefs).
YooN Ki-won was two weeks from his 24th birthday when police say he killed himself rather than face charges that he’d taken gamblers’ money to throw matches in South Korea’s top football division, the K league. A promising goalkeeper, he’d been drafted by Incheon United out of college and started for the club at the beginning of the 2011 season before being benched early on following
a series of lackluster performances—12 goals in six games, culminating in a 0-6 rout on 30th April at the hands of Jeonbuk hyundai motors. his body was found a week later behind the wheel of his car at a rest stop on the Gyeongbu expressway near Seoul. Beside him was a half-burned briquette, the fumes from which killed him, and an envelope stu ed with 1 million won, the equivalent of about 700 US dollars.
“You never can do it without a goalie,”
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says mario cizmek, an aging ex-mid elder sentenced to 10 months’ imprisonment and banned from world football for life for organizing rigged games in 2010 while with Fc croatia Sesvete.
As in sports, so in the corrupting of it, there are rules, as mr cizmek explained in a February interview with The Associated Press:
The goalie gets the most money because it’s his statistics on the line. Defenders get the next biggest share, then the mid elders. Forwards are of least value and often are left out of the conspiracy altogether.
croatia Sesvete was having a terrible season in 2010 and was going to be relegated anyway, making it a target for xers who zero in on clubs that have nothing to lose. Bad teams that fail raise fewer red ags than good teams losing when they’re not supposed to. other clubs are desperate to win, perhaps to ascend to a higher division and the immensely greater revenues that accrue from TV contracts, sponsorships and other sources.
e problem prosecutors face is that Internet betting is simply too big, too vast in its global reach, the technological opportunities for subverting it too tempting to resist and extremely di cult to track.
The successful x is the one that de es detection—the team expected to win wins, the one expected to lose loses; or if it’s an unusual outcome it’s in a “friendly” that doesn’t count in the standings.
The more players in on the x the better, and the bad guys are equally careful in deciding which. Younger ones like Yoon Ki-won are cheaper and more malleable. Then there are the older ones nearing the end of their careers, like mario cizmek, 36 at the time of his fall with a wife and two young children to support and back taxes to pay.
Any player in nancial trouble is a mark. more than a few on croatia Sesvete in
2010 were. Despite past successes, the club was on the skids. mr cizmek and his teammates hadn’t been paid a regular salary in months. It’s a grim reality for professional players in some countries, more than most fans know.
It was the transgressing of the rules that drove Wilson Raj Perumal, a dean among xers, to break faith with his confederates and blow the cover o a global conspiracy nanced and led from Singapore that makes untold millions every year betting on scores of football contests its operatives have rigged—this is “arrogantly happening daily,” in the words of one expert—in europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, North and South America,
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BLAST FROM THE PAST
Wilson raj Perumal, a Singaporean national and
a wanted man in the city- state, says he was one of six “shareholders” in a match- xing syndicate based in Singapore and known as the “Zingari” (the “Gypsies”). he was trying to get out of Finland on a forged passport when he was arrested in February 2011.
MArCh 2013
“Football is in a disastrous state,” says Chris Eaton of the International Centre for Sport Security.
in elite divisions and in the bushes, wherever players, managers, coaches, referees, team executives, owners, anyone capable of manipulating the action on the pitch, is willing to take a bribe.
mr Perumal, a Singaporean national, says he was one of six “shareholders” in the organization, the “Zingari,” as they styled themselves (“Gypsies”). he was trying to get out of Finland on a forged passport when he was arrested at helsinki Vantaa international airport in February 2011. At that point, he’d been in and out of jail in Singapore and was on the run, having ed the city-state the year before while appealing a ve-year sentence for injuring a police o cer. When he was picked up in Finland he had numbers on his phone for people in 34 countries. he was on Facebook, Twitter and linked In, promoting a business he called Football4U, which investigators say was a front for his illegal activities. he was gambling heavily and in debt and pocketing money he was getting from his investors to x games. This is according to chris eaton, who’d served with Interpol and was head of security for FIFA, the governing body of world football, at the time of mr Perumal’s arrest. mr eaton is a director of the International centre for Sport Security, a non-pro t think tank based in Doha that advises governments, sports associations, event organizers, leagues and clubs on safety and integrity and is probably the most quoted expert on the soiling of the sport. he believes mr Perumal had become a liability to the gang and its alleged leader, 48-year-old Tan Seet eng—Dan Tan, as he is known. mr Perumal believes he was set up and has spent the last two years exacting his
revenge, rst in Finland, where he served a year for bribing players in that country’s top league, then in hungary, where he was wanted on a european warrant and taken to a secret location, presumably to assist authorities there as well (or so it would appear from a report later that year by a hungarian newspaper that said all xes in hungary were decided in Singapore). Italian investigators also were eager to talk to the man they call their “primary source of evidence” and went to Finland to question him, as did a representative from europol, the law enforcement arm of the european Union. News reports say his whereabouts are unknown, although it appears he is giving out enough to enable him to avoid extradition to Singapore.
“he’d be in prison for ve years, and perhaps he wouldn’t come out of that prison,” mr eaton told AP. “he has realized that his only way forward is to become an informant and to cooperate.”
From his cell in Finland, mr Perumal began writing letters. “Seeking police assistance is a violation of code No. 1 in any criminal business,” one went. “Dan Tan broke this code. And now he has to face the consequences. I hold the key to the Pandora’s Box and I will not hesitate to unlock it.”
mr eaton believes he has yet to tell all he knows.
‘LIKE WHORES’
Spurred into action by mr Perumal’s revelations, in July 2011 europol launched an investigation, and on 4th February of this year called a press conference at their headquarters at The hague to announce its ndings on what europol Director Rob Wainwright called “a sad day for european football”. Nineteen months of legwork conducted in partnership with Interpol and police from 13 eU states had uncovered 680 “suspicious” games worldwide dating back to 2008, 380 of them in europe, including
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200 matches a year containing elements that might be questionable, “which does not mean they are xed”.) Globally match- xing rakes in upwards of US$15 billion annually, according to FIFA’s estimate. It is “absolutely endemic worldwide,” mr eaton told reporters covering the europol press conference. last year, 51 players, o cials and coaches around the world were banned by FIFA, 22 for life. So far this year, 74 people associated with football in Italy and South Korea— players, refs, team o cials—have been banished.
“Football,” says mr eaton, “is in a disastrous state.”
Four-time World cup champions Italy has been so mired in scandals at the highest levels that outgoing Prime minister mario monti has gone as far as to recommend shutting down the professional game for two to three years to clean it up. This season alone, 13 clubs in the top two divisions have been punished in the standings with points deductions. And Italy’s betting industry is considered one of the best-regulated in europe. The problem is that licensed
Nineteen months of legwork by europol conducted in partnership with Interpol and police from 13 eU states uncovered 680 “suspicious” games worldwide dating back to 2008, 380 of them in europe, including World Cup and european Championship quali cation matches, two UeFA Champions League matches and matches in several top intrastate leagues. More than 400 players, referees, club o cials and “serious criminals” were involved.
World cup and european championship quali cation matches, two UeFA champions league matches and matches in several top intrastate leagues. more than 400 players, referees, club o cials and “serious criminals” had been involved. This was corruption “on a scale and in a way that threatens the very fabric of the game,” mr Wainwright said.
It was, he added, “the biggest investigation ever into suspected match xing,” and it only scratched the surface. last year saw at least 50 nations conduct probes into corruption in football, almost one-fourth of FIFA’s total membership. The computer watchdogs at Sportradar, a private london-based company that monitors sports betting around the world, say that in europe alone maybe 300 crooked games or more are played every year. (UeFA disputes this. Gianni Infantino, who heads the governing body of european professional football, says their monitoring turns up about
Rob Wainwright elaborates on the ndings of Europol’s probe into soccer match xing during a press conference in e Hague, Netherlands, on 4th February.
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BLAST FROM THE PAST
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bookmakers comprise only 30% of it. The lion’s share of the action is funneled through unregulated Internet black markets, most of them operating out of Asia.
Similarly, in South Korea, where only one bookmaker, Sports Toto, is licensed to accept bets, something like 1,000 illegal Web sites do a ourishing trade, according to the Korean Institute of criminology. South Korean police estimate its value at 3.5 trillion won annually (US$3.1 billion).
corruption in South Korean sports had been a thinly veiled secret for years before Yoon Ki-won’s death lifted it away. Three weeks after his body was found, four players from the K league’s Daejeon citizen were arrested. A few days after that, a second player under investigation was dead, also apparently by his own hand. he was a low- level mid elder named Jeong Jong-kwan, 29 years old, who once had played for Jeonbuk hyundai. his body was found in a hotel room in Seoul. In June 2011, an investigation by the Supreme Prosecutor’s o ce concluded with lifetime bans for 10 players. Thirty-one more would be blacklisted as a result of a second, broader investigation launched that summer in which 57 were charged: 46 current and former players, managers, coaches and team o cials and 11 bookmakers, xers and their associates and backers. Three clubs had their Sports Toto dividends slashed. Thirty-nine individuals received jail time. one of them, lee Soo-cheol, a former K league coach with Sangju Sangmu Phoenix, was found later that year hanging in his apartment south of Seoul. he’d been sentenced to two years in prison for blackmailing the parents of a player implicated in the investigation. last year, two banned players were charged in a carjacking and kidnapping in the a uent Gangnam section of Seoul. one had made a handful of appearances with the national team. The other, a talented winger, had been working as a hospital receptionist after FIFA blocked his move to a club in macedonia. last April, the scandal claimed its fourth fatality, lee Gyeong-hwan, a mid elder who’d played for Daejeon and Suwon Samsung before he was banned for life. he jumped o the roof of his apartment building in Incheon. he was 24.
In one of his letters from prison, Wilson Perumal recalls “players thanking me for giving them this opportunity and telling me how much this money will change their lives.” In any event, he continued,
Four-time World Cup champions Italy has been so mired in scandals at the highest levels that outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti has gone as far as to recommend shutting down the professional game for two to three years to clean it up.
they are all “like whores who will walk with the highest bidder.” his is not a world that countenances victims. except maybe the bookmakers. “And they dissolve their losses in the massive turnover of pro ts.”
‘BIGGER THAN COCA-COLA’
In the statement europol issued from The hague it said, “The organised criminal group behind most of these activities has been betting primarily on the Asian market. The ringleaders are of Asian origin, working closely together with european facilitators.” Its investigation tied at least 150 cases directly to xers in Singapore, to operatives with the kind of backing that enabled them to spread bribes of up of €100,000 per match.
If this wasn’t a reference to the “Zingari,” it certainly sounded like one.
In February 2012, Italian authorities went through Interpol to obtain an international arrest warrant for Dan Tan, whom they accuse in court documents of running a syndicate that made millions xing dozens of league and cup games in their country between 2008 and 2011. Indeed, their wide- ranging investigation identi es him as the “common thread” tying all the gangs together, an allegation re ected also in europol’s ndings, bolstered, no doubt, by
information provided by mr Perumal.
Italy has no extradition treaty with Singapore, however, and relations between the two on the match- xing issue “have not been great,” according to the lead prosecutor on the Italian side. “We had hoped for more,”
he told AP.
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Under mounting international pressure, authorities in the city-state nally acted in February. They announced they were sending four senior police o cers to europe to join Interpol’s Global Anti-match-Fixing Task Force. To further show their good will they o ered up a european, a Slovenian named Admir Suljic, a suspected member of the “Zingari” who news reports say had taken it on the lam in the aftermath of mr Perumal’s arrest. They noti ed Italian police of his arrival in milan on 21st February on a one-way ticket from Singapore and he was arrested at the airport on an Interpol warrant on charges including “sporting fraud committed by a criminal association”. he had been one of several people whom police in the city-state had summoned for questioning earlier that month, according to a story in The Straits Times, which identi ed them all as associates of mr Tan’s. All were released within hours, and none where charged, the paper said.
The day mr Suljic was arrested, Interpol General Secretary Ron Noble was in Kuala lumpur playing the diplomat for a seminar on match- xing hosted by Interpol and the Asian Football Federation. he complimented Singapore police on the Suljic bust, and in a nod to the delicate situation with european investigators emphasized that Singapore and Italy “remain two of Interpol’s most active and e ective members”. It was also
a show of support for malaysian authorities, who are in the midst of an investigation of their own into corruption in the country’s Super league, some of the matches in question involving Singapore teams. last may, Singapore authorities charged a referee and a player with conspiring to x a Super league contest.
The problem prosecutors face is that Internet betting is simply too big (“bigger than coca-cola” is how chis eaton describes it), too vast in its global reach, the technological opportunities for subverting it too tempting to resist and extremely di cult to track. As mr eaton has observed, “Gone are the images of people entering smoke- lled rooms with bags of money and betting slips. Today’s gambling institutions most closely resemble international nance, with its banking, derivatives trading and commodities trading.”
online sports betting is somewhere around a US$500 billion industry, according to estimates, and FIFA says football comprises 90% of it, its popularity solidi ed by such digital age marvels as those that allow bettors to wager live in real time on the ebb and ow of action on the pitch as it plays out in front of them on TV. This “in- play” or “in-running” betting, as it’s called, is “particularly advantageous for criminals,” according to a 2012 report by Britain’s University of Salford, and it is especially
Admir Suljic was arrested at the Milan airport on 21st February on an Interpol warrant on charges including “sporting fraud committed by a criminal association”.
popular in Asia, where most Web gambling takes place.
Which only magni es the problem because few Asian markets are regulated with any stringency, and many not at all. The result is a frustrating dearth of transparency. Vital data—on who is betting and where and on what and how much—is simply not available.
“It’s made for corruption,” said economist David Forrest, author of the Salford report.
In one of his letters from prison, Wilson Perumal recalls “players thanking me for giving them this opportunity and telling me how much this money will change their lives.” In any event, he continued, they are all “like whores who will walk with the highest bidder.”
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An Interpol-led crackdown launched during the 2010 World Cup resulted in more than 5,000 arrests in
some 800 illegal gambling dens in China, hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore and ailand. It made hardly a dent in the legions said to be employed in Internet “sweatshops” to place thousands of small bets designed to evade the monitoring software of FIFA and companies like Sportradar.
it a “gray-area betting business” where “it’s almost impossible to measure how they do business and what weaknesses they have that allow organised crime to take advantage of this.” It was to the Philippines that Vietnamese authorities traced a gambling ring they busted in January that was moving millions out of their country on a daily basis. one seized account contained the equivalent of about US$470 million. Under duress (the intergovernmental Financial Action Task Force has threatened to blacklist the country), the Philippines congress voted in February to tighten its anti-money laundering laws. But Internet and land-based gambling were speci cally omitted from the reporting requirements, the argument being that it would scare away investment.
An Interpol-led crackdown launched during the 2010 World cup resulted in more than 5,000 arrests in some 800 illegal gambling dens in china, hong Kong, macau, malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. It made hardly a dent in the legions of kids and poor people said to be employed in Internet “sweatshops” by organizations like mr Perumal’s to place thousands of small bets designed to evade the monitoring software of FIFA and private companies like Sportradar.
For the europeans the problem is compounded further by the popularity in Asia of the european game—many Asians having lost interest in their own contests, which are perceived as too crooked to bother with—because this means the illicit pro ts owing West for the dirty work keep getting larger. The Salford study describes sports bodies and law enforcement as “particularly helpless” in the face of the “transnational resources” available to the xers, and mr eaton believes the good guys haven’t helped their cause by spending too much time and
resources targeting corruption in sports and not enough battling corruption in betting.
“This is a global economy, a growing global economy,” he has said, “and it needs to be regulated and supervised.”
The Philippines is of major concern because it is home to Asia’s largest known bookmakers, but regulation there is so lax operators are under no obligation to le accounts or to share information with sports organizations and investigators or ensure that proper know-your-customer systems are in place and maintained. mr eaton calls
“If we kill dan Tan then you will have no match- xing? No, I think it’s not as easy as this.”
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China’s Super League has in the past been deemed too corrupt to televise.
“It’s de nitely beyond and above the world of sport, above and beyond FIFA,” says Interpol’s ron Noble. “It’s fair to say we haven’t caught up to the scale of the problem.”
china, where mr Perumal says his syndicate places most of its bets, is another black hole. The country’s Super league has become a byword for corruption. match xing is so widespread the country’s largest television network has in the past refused to broadcast its games. Two former heads of the china Football Association are serving lengthy prison sentences, as are four former national team players and a 2002 World cup referee. They are among 33 chinese recently expelled for life from world football. Twenty- ve others have been slapped with partial bans.
“It’s de nitely beyond and above the world of sport, above and beyond FIFA,” says Interpol’s Ron Noble. “It’s fair to say we haven’t caught up to the scale of the problem.”
As for the elusive mr Tan, he “is currently assisting Singapore authorities in their investigations,” according to a statement issued by police there. he remains a free man, and to date, the city-state’s powers have not been inclined to interfere with that. Italian authorities say if they can’t get their hands on him they may try him in absentia.
of what value this would be beyond the “symbolic importance” attributed to it by FIFA’s current head of security, Ralf mutschke, is impossible to say.
“You give him a name, so everyone is talking about Dan Tan and Dan Tan syndicates and Dan Tan here and Dan Tan there,” he told AP. “If we kill Dan Tan then you will have no match- xing? No, I think it’s not as easy as this.”
It was to the Philippines that Vietnamese authorities traced
a gambling ring they busted in January that was moving millions out of their country on a daily basis. One seized account contained the equivalent of US$470 million.
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BLAST FROM THE PAST
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FEATURES
Casinos are increasingly aware of the benefits ergonomics bring to their facilities, and manufacturers are responding with product that improves comfort for both visitors and employees.
Gaming Support ergonomically-designed and engineered table games have been installed in the gaming halls of Holland Casino.
Integrating ergonomic design into various casino products can be a challenge however since people tend to come in many shapes and sizes. As a result, a design that may be comfortable for one person can be unpleasant for the next. clothes and shoes come in di erent sizes to accommodate these di erences, but chairs and hardware have quite the complex task when it comes to gaming properties because they will have more than one user in their lifetimes.
In addition, ergonomic products must be designed with facility di erentiation in mind and feature the exibility and technology needed to integrate with the latest gaming advances to ensure customer comfort and foster increased play.
“often casino architects and designers emphasize that products look good when they should focus on customer satisfaction in the broadest sense of the term,” says lucien van linden, ceo of Gaming Support, a Netherlands-based supplier of services and products for land-based casinos. “[A gaming customer] should feel good, sit well and play easy in a clean casino environment.”
By Joan Mantini
FeW would deny that customer
comfort is of paramount importance to the modern, land-based casino enterprise experience and in response
gaming operators and suppliers are more eager than ever before to integrate ergonomic principles into seating and other high-use items.
But this use of ergonomics within casinos is not con ned solely to patron- facing products; it now extends to hardware used throughout the property, with the goal of providing increased comfort and injury prevention to facility employees as well as visitors. Simply put, ergonomics focuses on the prevention of discomfort as much as providing comfort.
38 inside asian gaming MArch 2016


BASIC THINKING
Basic ergonomic concepts that should be considered by manufacturers when designing new products—and for casino operators when integrating them onto their casino oor—are aesthetics, comfort, the ease of use, performance management, productivity and, of course, safety. “The DNA of every one of our seating products begins with ergonomic principles,” said ed Abadie, design engineer at Gary Platt manufacturing, a Reno, Nevada-based supplier of casino seating. “The design ensures there is a good lumbar support, the correct seat and back molded foam densities for the surface areas are used and the alignment of back angles to seat are correct. Base designs should also have ergonomically correct seat-to-footrest ratios for comfort and provide the user stability at all gaming heights o ered.”
casino ergonomics continue to evolve and with the help of research and development suppliers are better able to integrate the health bene ts of ergonomic theory into their products. one of the main objectives of ergonomic seating and hardware is to ensure the subtle yet important aspects of user comfort are merged into the product’s proper function. let’s face it: people who are comfortable are likely more bene cial for the operation
Lido X2-Tended Play chair from gary Platt
over longer time periods. This applies to employee productivity as well as increased time on device from the patron.
For example, Gaming Support studied how cards were being dealt at blackjack tables. They came to realize that repetitive strains and injuries to dealers could be lessened if cards came out of the shoe easier. They also discovered that table game cloth that allowed for easier handling of cards was bene cial for both dealers and players. “We maximized the ‘reach-radius’ for customers and dealers, so playing live games isn’t tiring,” van linden said.
of course, Gaming Support is not the only casino furniture and hardware provider embracing the science of ergonomics. Below you will nd a brief roundup of other companies that have realized added value and bene t to their customers by integrating ergonomics into product design.
GARY PLATT MANUFACTURING
Gary Platt manufacturing has been designing and building seating for the casino business for over 40 years and has focused a keen eye on customer comfort from the start.
“From its beginning, Gary Platt has put a premium on using the highest quality materials in its seating, as well as being one of the pioneers in ensuring ergonomic principles are used in every design and
style we o er,” Abadie said. “It has, in many cases, allowed us to be in the forefront of design and certainly in seating comfort. From our contemporary designs to the more classic designs, ergonomic comfort is the primary concern. our customers have trusted us with the development and design of custom seating products, knowing that our ergonomic criterion extends to our sound chairs, benches and many other custom seating solutions we have designed for them.”
According to Abadie, the company’s classic Gazelle line of seats introduced the gaming industry to the bene ts of ergonomic design, a concept the company continues to evolve and grow. “From our X-Tended Play products to the newly developed X2-Tended Play seating, the Gary Platt classic series has been ergonomically updated,” Abadie said. “The newly introduced and ergonomically designed lIDo series is proving to be a best seller along with several newly designed base options such as the epic Base.”
“The key to the success of our products is the focus on seating comfort, and the interchangeability of seat head style and base designs,” Abadie added. “This o ers the customer the ability to develop a look unique to their property. We also feel that because the focus of our seating is to extend the users ‘time-on-device’ by using correct ergonomic design, it sets us apart from our competition.”
ECLECTIC CONTRACT
FURNITURE INDUSTRIES
eclecTIc contract Furniture Industries is a long standing furniture fabrication company with a well-established history of providing customers with quality furniture and case goods for almost any conceived design, according to company literature. Their proven manufacturing technique delivers furnishings with beauty, style, function and durability.
eclecTIc products have been installed in the hospitality eld across the U.S. and the caribbean. They have provided furnishings for thousands of accommodations, in addition to numerous dining, corporate and entertaining establishments ranging from boutique hotels and high-end branded properties to resorts and casino hotels.
Alex marc, president of elecTIc, said that the company’s popular collections
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include, Sinu, Tribecas, Ribeca and legArm. “our Sinu [collection] was tested for ten hours a day, thirty days straight, and the person did not have to visit the chiropractor,” marc said.
meanwhile, the legArm lounge chair was created to provide increased customer comfort through the use of “legarms;” a type of framing system that allows chair legs and arms to move in di erent directions, one forward, one backwards, creating a motion as the chair is “walking.” The shape of the legarms comes from four di erent curves that are all the same radius although the way they are composed they look di erent. The top portions are also the same shape even though they look di erent, and the armrests are wide enough to rest a drink.
“every new product or new project requires full technical team attention when being developed,” said marc, who added that functional ergonomics have been practiced for the past 30 years in over 1,000 styles of chairs, bar-stools and other custom pieces of eclecTIc furniture.
GAMING SUPPORT
Gaming Support designs and manufactures innovative products and technology solutions for the global gaming industry. over the years, expansion of its products and services has grown from being solely focused on The Netherlands to having products placed inside casinos and gambling halls on six of the world’s seven continents, as stated on the company website.
Line of stools from ECLECTIC
e LongArm lounge chair concept from ECLECTIC
ergonomics do not come with an extra price tag at Gaming Support—it is incorporated into all of its products as standard practice. “Dealers and players spend considerable time on a gaming table while repeating the same motions over and over again; we like to make products that when used are highly e ective for both dealer and players and require a minimum physical e ort,” van linden said. “The easier it is to physically participate in any event, the more successful it becomes.”
For example, Gaming Support has developed the hybrid Gaming Device, a slot machine concept designed with the goal of allowing players to play and chat comfortably while sitting at the machine.
The company also o ers a line of ergonomic live table games, which have recently been installed at holland casino.
“Before deploying any product, we want it to feel and handle right, without any problematic motions or handling,” van linden said. “If we don’t do our job well, we see a rise in illnesses and personal injuries or a drop in revenue; both are expensive. If we are not sure if we have designed a product properly, we consult an ergonomist.”
STYLGAME
StylGame creates seating for table games and betting machines—padded chairs and comfortable stools designed to o er maximum comfort and esthetics to their clients. The Italian manufacturing company specializes in gaming and presents clients with high-quality products that guarantee long lasting satisfaction, comfort and extended play time.
A strong suite for StylGame is its ongoing commitment to ergonomic research and development. “We strive to improve our products and their quality in order to guarantee the maximum ergonomics and comfort to the nal user,” said Roberto Ronchi, export sales manager at StylGame. “During the past years, research and development represented a major share of the company’s overall investments.”
Indeed, in 2008, a scienti c study was carried out by StylGame in collaboration with Area Science Park and casin di Venezia— one of the rst such studies to address the issue of casino ergonomics. From that
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study came the company’s renowned Royal Stool product line and its patented “Play in comfort” seating system.
“chair design and production remains the core business at StylGame, backed by extensive experience and ergonomic research,” Ronchi added. “Among all our lines, Verona ergo and Florence ergo are the best sellers. The Shift base is another product that has met the appreciation of many customers. StylGame pays good attention to the player’s comfort as it has positive in uence on our customers’ results.”
GASSER CHAIR
located in ohio, the family-owned Gasser chair company also focuses on ergonomics; everything done in the design of their products is based on reducing stress on the player over a long period of time and to make sure their products have extended longevity.
“We created the ex back bracket and the quick change seat to make the back design help relieve stress on the back and to make the seat pad easy to replace to provide a clean seat for the patron,” said Steve odden, Native American gaming specialist for Gasser chair. “We make our own injection molded foam to ensure both the right rmness and longevity. With our own in-house engineering team and test lab, we focus on both ergonomics and durability in everything we do.”
Gasser PC107 chair line
StylGame’s ergonomic slot seating system
According to odden, Gasser has the broadest range of products in the industry. “most of what is selling today was developed over the last six or seven years and a result of attention to ergonomic, durability and
Slot chair from ICP
ease of maintenance factors,” odden said. “With our broad o ering we have a variety of products that sell, meet the casino’s requirement for both style and ergonomics along with durability and create the ability for each casino to have their own unique look.”
INNOVATIVE CASINO PRODUCTS (ICP)
IcP is a family owned business specializing in a variety of industry components: slot bases, pit podiums, change banks, chairs, slot stations, change carts, jackpot ll stations, cabinets, countertops, display cabinets, bill banks, computer stations, table game drink rails, and other custom mill products. Their products are designed to hold up to the rigorous activities of today’s casinos and are custom built per customer speci cations.
“Innovative spends a good amount of time looking at trends, changes throughout the industry, staying ahead of the design curve, as well as coming up with our own industry innovations,” said chris Salenski, national account executive at IcP. “over the years, we have made changes to the design of the slot base so the player has more room and used di erent materials to increase the durability of the base.”
Reprinted with permission of Casino Journal. MArch 2016 inside asian gaming 41
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holiday Visitor Uptick False dawn for Macau?
mainland chinese visitor numbers to macau rose over chinese New Year, although analysts doubted if this signaled an end to the city’s protracted slump in gaming revenues.
The lunar New Year holiday, which this year fell on 7 to 13 February, is a peak season for the city. According to the macau Government Tourist o ce, visitor arrivals from mainland china over the week rose by 4.3% when compared with last year, to 793,598. This followed nine months of year-on-year falls, before a slight rise of 1% in December and fall of 1% in January.
Average daily revenue at tables during the week, however, was still down 20% from last year, continuing a year-and-a-half of monthly falls. Some analysts concluded more visitors overall have done little to o set the collapse in high-roller spending caused by Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption crackdown and the souring chinese economy. others reckoned that few of the extra arrivals were gamblers.
“our latest channel checks suggest mass tables remain quiet. In particular, we are hearing this chinese New Year is notable for the number of families present in macau, and their higher propensity to enjoy non-gaming amenities and lower propensity to gamble,” wrote Wells Fargo Securities in a research note. “Given everything we are seeing and hearing in the market and in china, we are not sure what the catalyst is for 18 months of trend decline to suddenly turn around in February.”
To support the idea that non-gamblers accounted for macau’s tourism uptick, visitor arrivals recorded in hong Kong over the chinese New Year were down 12% this year. Given that visitor arrivals to the two cities have historically moved in tandem, and given that visitors to hong Kong dropped in the aftermath of the city’s 2014 pro-democracy “umbrella” protests, it’s possible many were also scared away from hong Kong this year by the rioting that broke out on February 8 in the city’s mong Kok district. If, instead of cancelling their holiday outing, mainlanders diverted from hong Kong to macau, then macau’s New Year surge was indeed a one-o and unrelated to any long-term trend.
Shaun McCamley joins GMA
Top casino executive Shaun mccamley has joined Global market Advisors to head its Asia regional o ce. The leading consulting rm provides project feasibility reports, strategic advice, economic impact studies and marketing strategies to companies looking to grow in the global casino gaming, internet and social gaming, hospitality and airline industries. It has worked with clients in the
US, canada, the caribbean, europe, mexico and Asian countries including South Korea, hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, macau, Japan, Taiwan, Philippines, cambodia and eastern Russia. With business growing, recently it moved to a larger o ce in the central business district of Bangkok.
GmA’s managing Partner Steve Gallaway said, “We are excited to have Shaun join the GmA team. his decades of experience operating and consulting in Asia, combined with his in-depth knowledge of setting up and operating online gaming sites will be invaluable to our clients. With Shaun running the Bangkok o ce, and our other o ces in Taipei, las Vegas, and Denver, GmA can service our clients reliably 24 hours per day.”
mccamley started his gaming career as a croupier at the curzon house club in london’s exclusive mayfair district. over 35 years he worked his way into positions of increasing responsibility, eventually establishing himself as one of the most respected senior industry executives in Asia Paci c. Recently he served as managing Partner of euro Paci c Asia consulting in macau. he was then appointed president of Vietnam’s largest casino resort, the US$500 million ho Tram resort casino which, under his management, saw a considerable
improvement in fortunes.
More delays for Macau Integrated resorts
Two of the four mega-resorts now under construction in macau’s cotai district delayed their opening amid early signs of an improving gaming market. The government granted Sands china, a subsidiary of las Vegas Sands, an extension to complete its US$2.7 billion Parisian macau. After the casino operator said in may last year it would be unable to meet its original April 2016 deadline, the opening has now been postponed a second time, from September this year to November. The Parisian will be Sands’ fourth macau casino and features 3,000 rooms and a half-scale replica of the ei el Tower.
earlier on mGm china, a subsidiary of mGm Resorts International, said the opening of its US$3.1 billion mGm cotai resort would be moved from the fourth quarter of this year to the second quarter of next. Given 18 straight months of declining
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gaming revenues in the macau casino industry, mGm china’s ceo Grant Bowie said the delay was made to better understand changes in the local market. “This decision is a good decision for macau and it is a very good decision for mGm,” he said. “The transition from the VIP market to mass market is occurring. That transition is probably taking longer and for growth to come back to macau is taking longer than we expected. And I think that, therefore, it makes sense that we take a little bit longer to make sure that we have the right product.” mGm cotai will be the operator’s second casino in the city, with 1,600 hotel rooms.
last November, Wynn macau announced a delay in the opening of its US$4.1 billion cotai project Wynn Palace, from march this year to June. Yet another resort now being built in cotai is the US$3.9 billion, 2,000 room Grand lisboa Palace, belonging to local concessionaire SJm which is scheduled to open in the fourth quarter of next year.
In spite of the delays, shares in macau concessionaires have been rising amid optimism that the local market could be bottoming out. mGm’s macau operations reported better-than-expected December quarter earnings. las Vegas Sands said its management saw signs of improvement ahead. Wynn Resorts’ ceo Steve Wynn, meanwhile, said January was “our best month in a long time.”
SJM CeO Testi es in Pimping Trial of Founder’s Nephew
Ambrose So, who is the ceo of macau’s oldest gaming operator SJm, testi ed at the trial of Alan ho, a nephew of SJm’s founder and former gambling kingpin Stanley ho. The younger ho is accused of running a prostitution ring at the city’s landmark lisboa casino and hotel.
called upon to defend ho, So described him as “just and honest”, hard working and competent in his work as the hotel’s executive director at the time of alleged o ences. he said ho’s personality was like that of non-chinese in being direct and straightforward, and added that he had never heard Stanley ho complain about his nephew. After another defense witness said ho had ordered an investigation after women complained to the hotel that they were being charged for access to “working rooms” there, the public prosecutor asked So if ho had intervened. So said he believed ho would take measures to maintain the hotel’s propriety, but added that he was not sure if ho had implemented any such measures.
According to the prosecution, ho led an operation that occupied the bedrooms of two whole oors of the hotel, employed 2,400 sex workers and took in US$50 million over two years.
macau police say it was the largest to be uncovered in the city since 1999, with 96 prostitutes found when the hotel was raided. Nearly all were from mainland china, and some said they paid 150,000 yuan (US$23,000) per year to parade in the property’s shopping mall before taking clients to their upstairs room.
The casino at the lisboa property was the centerpiece of the gambling empire of Stanley ho, who held the gaming monopoly in macau for 40 years until 2002, making him the most powerful man in the city and one of the richest in Asia. While the elder ho at 94 now takes a back seat, his fourth wife Angela leong is the largest individual stakeholder in SJm. Two of his children each hold a substantial stake in one of the city’s ve other gaming concessions. Given the clan’s standing, the very public arrest of Alan ho, along with six other defendants in January last year was remarkable.
Macau Legend Starts Work on Cape Verde Ir
macau-based casino and hotel operator macau legend Development limited has broken ground on a US$290 million integrated resort on the eastern Atlantic archipelago nation of cape Verde. In addition to a casino and hotel, the 153,000 square meter project will feature o ce buildings, a marina, a museum and a convention center, and should take three years to complete. 22% of tropical cape Verde’s GDP now comes from tourism and the government there hopes the new development will help boost visitor numbers from 600,000 visitors per year now to more than 2 million.
Attending the groundbreaking ceremony, macau legend ceo David chow Kam Fai hailed the project as a landmark in cooperation between cape Verde, china and macau. “cape Verde is a Portuguese- speaking country that enjoys political stability, beautiful scenery, a pleasant climate and a convenient transportation network,” he said. “It is able to attract tourists from North Africa, West Africa, europe, South America, central America and the caribbean, thereby creating a new market, especially with the trend that more and more chinese are emigrating and investing in these places and this saves them from ying long to Asia.”
cape Verde’s rst casino opened in 2013 when laws allowing gambling on ve of its ten islands came into force. macau legend now operates two casinos in macau. Amid declining revenues across the whole macau gaming industry, the new project will be its rst foray into the international market. The terms of its agreement with the cape Verde government include a land concession of 75 years, a 25-year gaming license, and a 10-year nationwide monopoly over online gaming and sports betting.
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Corruption hits dutch Soccer and International Tennis
Gambling-related corruption scandals rocked Dutch football and international Tennis.
In holland, the Integrity Unit of the Dutch Football Association (KNVB) said it had evidence of the rst case of match- xing in the country. Its investigation alleges that Ibrahim Kargbo, who played for the country’s top- ight eredivisie team Willem II Tilburg between 2006 and 2010, agreed to work with convicted Singaporean match- xer Wilson Raj Perumal in order to lose against Fc Utrecht on 9 August 2009. Kargbo’s emails, KNVB says, suggest he and two other Willem II players it could not clearly identify would each receive €25,000 if their team lost by more than one goal. In the end the x actually failed because Utrecht only won the match 1-0.
ex-Sierra leone captain Kargbo was previously one of 15 players and o cials suspended for xing a 2008 World cup quali er match against South Africa. he currently plays for Atletico in Portugal. “Dutch football has in this area become one of the last in europe to o cially lose its innocence,” said KNVB operations director Gijs de Jong. “We hope that this will bene t. Namely, that it contributes to the urgency in the Netherlands to combat this scourge in the sport.” The KNVB says it will send its report to UeFA and FIFA.
meanwhile, an investigation by Britain’s Guardian newspaper revealed the International Tennis Federation had secretly banned two umpires and was taking action against four more for working with “courtsiders” on the ITF’s Futures Tour, the lowest level of professional tennis. “courtsiding” refers to the practice of using a man at the court side to transmit score information to gamblers seconds before bookmakers and internet betting sites receive it, enabling the gamblers to place bets just before the bookmakers update their odds.
In 2012 the ITF had signed a US$14 million per-year deal with data company Sportradar to distribute scores from small tournaments around the world. The matches under investigation were played in ITF Futures tournaments in eastern europe with little or no television coverage, low security and poorly paid umpires susceptible to taking bribes. Responsible for sending information to Sportradar, the umpires were supposed to tap scores into o cial WiFi-connected tablet computers immediately after each point, but were in fact deliberately delaying by as much as
60 seconds. This gave time for crooked gamblers, acting on their own information, to quickly place bets knowing what would happen next.
experts say tennis is ideally suited to gambling-related corruption. According to The Guardian the european Sports Security Association, a bookmaker’s trade association, raised 49 suspicious gambling alerts about the sport in the rst nine months of 2015 compared to 16 alerts for other sports over the same period. The newspaper criticized the ITF for failing to reveal that corruption in the sport was spreading from allegations of match- xing against players, to referees. It said the explosion in the number of events that can be gambled on during play had caused the number of suspicious gambling alerts to rise sharply over the past few years.
Fixed Odds Betting Terminals Blamed for UK “Gambling epidemic”
Pressure is rising in the UK for action against Fixed-odds Betting Terminals (FoBTs), which are being blamed for a reported “epidemic in gambling”.
In betting shops across the country there are now some 34,000 such machines, which allow bets of up to £100 (US$142) on games such as roulette, blackjack and poker. Britain’s Department of culture, media and Sport brought in restrictions last year requiring anyone wanting to stake £50 or more on an FoBT to set up an account with the bookmaker. But the new rule was followed by a 332% surge in people betting between £40 and £50 a go, and a mere 0.7% decrease in spending on them overall. A recent Department investigation found Britons are wagering nearly £40 billion on the terminals each year, up 20% from ve years ago. This compares with £5.5 billion bet annually in UK casinos and some £12 billion on horse racing. The report said the terminals were “a combination of high stakes and natural game volatility that can generate signi cant losses in a short space of time.” It added, “there is some evidence to suggest higher stake sizes can increase the risk of gambling related harm through spending more money or time than intended.”
Tim Farron, who is the leader of Britain’s third party the liberal Democrats, joined the Scottish parliament and more than 100 local councils in england and Wales in calling for action, calling FoBTs “out of control.” he said, “These highly damaging and addictive
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gaming machines have wreaked so much damage to people’s lives.” one of several national newspapers attacking FoBTs, the London Times said they were “drug delivery machines and should be regulated as such,” adding, “The rise of xed-odds betting terminals is a scourge of impoverished neighborhoods and vulnerable families.” It said a £400 million annual tax take from the machines was behind the UK’s cabinet o ce blocking a review of
them last November.
In a separate development, UK newspapers also revealed that
the National Problem Gambling clinic in london was piloting treatment using naltrexone. The medication, which is usually given to those with severe drug and alcohol problems, helps stop craving and costs £272 (US$385) per patient per year.
Israel and Jordan Mull Casinos
Israel and Jordan are both considering allowing casinos to boost tourism and government revenues.
In Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu announced he was setting up a steering committee headed by Tourism minister Yariv levin to explore the possibility of casinos in the southern resort city of eilat, to save the city “from economic failure and create thousands of jobs.” While eilat’s tourism industry has shrunk by 40% in the last ve years, illegal gambling in Israel is thought to be a US$280 to US$380 million industry. Netanyahu reportedly favors casinos that would be open to foreign tourists only, while the Tourism ministry favors admitting Israeli citizens too. Ultra-orthodox parliamentary factions, such as Jewish home, Shas and United Torah Judaism, say they will oppose the plan.
Rejecting claims that he had a personal interest in the push, Netanyahu said Sheldon Adelson did not intend to bid for a project in eilat. The billionaire, who is a big supporter of Netanyahu, attempted to open a casino in Israel during the 1990s but was repeatedly thwarted by tourism ministers.
meanwhile, Jordan’s vice-prime minister Abu al-Ragheb said his government was considering lifting the country’s ban on casino gambling to issue licenses for the port of Aqaba on the Red Sea or other tourist destinations. In a speech to the Amman chamber of Industry, he cited di cult economic conditions
facing Jordan, which has been deluged by refugees eeing the Syrian civil war.
In 2003 and 2007 the Jordanian government gave the go-ahead for casinos in locations including Aqaba and the coast of the Dead Sea. Both times, however, protests by religious conservatives halted the projects.
Mega-resort Project reatens Bahamas with Bankruptcy
The crisis surrounding Baha mar – a bankrupt casino-resort project in the Bahamas that is being dubbed “the world’s biggest white elephant” – took a turn when local media published details of a memo it said suggested the resort’s main contractor, china construction America ccA, had misled both Bahamian Prime minister Perry christie and Baha mar’s chairman and ceo Sarkis Izmirlian into believing it could meet the 27 march 2015 opening deadline.
The internal memo warns ccA’s Beijing parent china State construction engineering corporation (cScec) of severe di culties in meeting the deadline due to inadequate sta ng. ccA issued it two weeks after cScec and the project’s main nancer, export-Import Bank of china, sat down with Izmirlian and christie in Beijing in January last year to assure them Baha mar was on schedule. Izmirlian went ahead after the meeting to hire over 2,000 sta for the resort, at a cost of US$4 million per month, and launch a global advertising campaign. After ccA missed its deadline and Izmirlian tried, unsuccessfully, to le for bankruptcy in the US, Baha mar became the property of the chinese state-owned lender.
Izmirlian, who has lost the US$900 million he sank into the project, is suing for breach of contract, alleging ccA failed to deploy su cient contractors and resources. ccA says Izmirlian’s numerous design changes caused the delay. christie, meanwhile, has been meeting potential investors in europe, with malaysia’s Genting Group named as a possible buyer.
export-Import Bank says it wants to recover the US$2.45 billion it lent for Baha mar, but critics say this is unrealistic given deterioration and an estimated US$600 million needed to bring Baha mar to completion. Given the project’s scale, some have accused china of deliberately stalling in order to achieve colonial- style control over the Bahamas. Baha mar was supposed to generate 12% of GDP and US$74 million is owed to local contractors. Delays have already caused one downgrading of national debt by ratings agency Standard & Poors. If another follows, commentators say increased borrowing costs could bankrupt the nation.
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Events
Calendar
21|23 March 2016
iGaming Asia Congress
Grand Hyatt, Macau
iGaming Asia congress conference and exhibition will attract over 250 of Asia’s leading sports betting, online casino, lottery, social and mobile gaming executives to learn about the latest developments in industry, incoming regulations and disruptions, and strategies to stay ahead of the curve
in Asia. It is a must attend industry event for all iGaming operators in Asia and the world. www.igamingasiacongress.com
5|7 April 2016
iGaming North America 2016
Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, USA
The iGaming North America conference is a unique networking and educational event designed to facilitate
and cultivate the convergence of the land-based and online gambling industries in North America. our aim is to provide a cost-e ective networking environment that helps foster understanding regarding the impacts of existing
and potential regulated internet gambling in the U.S. and canada and provides critical information regarding the players, resources, legislative framework and topics that are important to all of the parties that comprise the important commercial gaming segment. With the surge in activity
at both the state/provincial as well as federal levels, we welcome all of the operators, consultants, vendors and suppliers focused on the North American audience. www.igamingnorthamerica.com
27|29 April 2016
Global iGaming Summit & expo
Hyatt Regency San Francisco, San Francisco, USA
established as the leading event focused on the future
of iGaming in North America, GiGse attracts over 700 delegates to examine legislative progress, commercial strategies and partnership opportunities for all the key stakeholders to enter iGaming and achieve rst-mover advantage in this lucrative market currently undergoing a signi cant regulatory change on a state-by-state basis. www.gigse.com
17|19 May 2016
Global Gaming expo Asia
e Venetian Macao, Macau
G2eAsia is the premier Asian trade event and the largest regional sourcing platform for global gaming and entertainment products. G2e Asia services suppliers by enabling them to showcase new products, meet quali ed buyers and establish new contacts. Annually, more than 95% of top Asian casino operators are at the show. held in macau — the heart of Asian gaming and one of the fastest growing gaming markets in the world, G2e Asia is the hub where professionals network and conduct business. www.g2easia.com
31 May|2 June 2016
IAGA International Gaming Summit
Westin Dragonara Resort, St Julian’s, Malta
The International Association of Gaming Advisors
(IAGA) will hold its 35th annual International Gaming Summit with the Gaming Regulators european Forum (GReF). As a premier event that brings together leaders from all global gaming sectors, this jointly held Summit will provide operators, suppliers, attorneys, investors, bankers, regulators and other advisors with an unparalleled opportunity to meet and discuss the top issues and challenges facing gaming today. www.theiaga.org/2016-gaming-summit
9|11 August 2016
Australasian Gaming expo
Sydney Exhibition Centre at Glebe Island, Sydney, Australia
Featuring more than 200 exhibitors across 17,000 square metres of exhibition space, the Australasian Gaming expo is easily the biggest event of its type in Australia and one of the world’s biggest. Visitors have long acknowledged that the world’s best and latest gaming and hospitality equipment is on show at the expo for gaming and hospitality executives, from around the region.
www.austgamingexpo.com
46 inside asian gaming MArch 2016
www.asgam.com