Junket exit, pandemic 2022 risk for APAC casinos: pundits
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The year 2022 is likely to be challenging for casinos in the Asia-Pacific region. Industry commentators say the decline of junkets that hosted Chinese gamblers in Macau and elsewhere in Southeast Asia, and the ongoing travel restrictions linked to the Covid-19 pandemic are the main reasons. China has also made it a criminal offence for anyone to enable Chinese customers to gamble overseas. Ben Lee, founder of casino industry consultancy IGamiX Management & Consulting Ltd, believes the reliance on high-value Chinese players is no longer relevant.
How China will handle international travel after the Chinese New Year and the Winter Olympics will be key in shaping how the Asia-Pacific gaming market will recover. Newpage Consulting’s Mr Green said the pandemic had exposed the distributional disadvantage associated with bricks and mortar casinos. Joji Kokuryo, a former Macau casino executive, said 2022 should mark the decision time for the first local-authority applications to the national government for right to run an integrated resort (IR) in Japan. The application period started on October 1, 2021 and closes on April 28, 2022.
