Gambling Insider has listened in on a CNBC Evolve Summit panel, where CNBC Journalist Contessa Brewer discussed the future of Asia’s gaming industry with Wynn Resorts CEO Craig Billings, Las Vegas Sands Chairman and CEO Robert Goldstein and MGM Resorts International CEO Bill Hornbuckle.
The trio of CEOs discussed Macau’s persistent quarantine troubles and their hopes for Macau’s return to full functionality.
Brewer: Robert, talk to me a little bit about Asia and your feelings now that you've sold Las Vegas Sands ahead of this massive Asia rebound. I know that you truly believe in the future of Macau and Singapore, but Covid restrictions are still a present obstacle.
Goldstein: Most of Asia's opening, I mean, Japan's opening, Indonesia, Malaysia, Korea, Vietnam. The market is opening. The biggest challenge there is employees, and airlifting them in and out is still challenging in Singapore. But Singapore is, you know, leading the way in terms of its great government, it's a great place to operate. We're thrilled to be there. At its peak, our Singapore casino was a $1.7 billion property. I guess that we'll do better than that in the future.
Macau, I find it funny that people question Macau's return. Of course, it's been a hard couple of years no question. We employ 34,000 people there and we've not laid anyone off, we’ve been paying them for 30 months. It has been a tough time. You've got to hunker down and wait for it to turn. The idea that the situation won't turn around is hard to imagine, but it probably will turn around this year or next. And when it does, Macau will go back to making – you know, we made at Macau's peak $3.5 billion EBITDA annually. I think we’ll make a lot more than that in the future there.
Billings: I agree with Rob. The only thing that keeps me up at night about Macau is the state of my team. I mean, you know, they've been essentially trapped there for years.
“Macau was seven, eight times Las Vegas in scale. So it scales back by half to begin with and then some more and so on. But, it's the largest gaming market in the world bar none, and it forever will be” Bill Hornbuckle, MGM Resorts International CEO
Goldstein: Yeah. Brutal.
Billings: It's very, very difficult and I appreciate everything they do for us. It is a difficult time to be there. But if you think about the latent demand across the border, you think about the importance of Macau within the Greater Bay area, we're huge, huge bulls in Macau just like Rob and Sands China.
Hornbuckle: Again, for the audience, I mean, Macau was seven, eight times Las Vegas in scale. So it scales back by half, to begin with, and then some more and so on. It's the largest gaming market in the world bar none, and it forever will be.
Aristocrat Gaming appoints new Chief Supply Chain Officer and new Chief Marketing Officer
Aristocrat Gaming has appointed Deanne McKissick as Chief Supply Chain Officer and Mark Wadley as Chief Marketing Officer.
Reporting to Aristocrat Gaming CEO Hector Fernandez, McKissick will oversee the entire global supply chain, “ensuring that customers continue to have the best product purchasing experience,” noted Aristocrat.
Wadley will oversee the comprehensive marketing efforts at a global level in a bid to maximise the value of the company’s Gaming division and products.
Australia’s national self-exclusion register for online and phone gambling named BetStop
Australia’s national self-exclusion register for online and phone gambling will be called BetStop, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has announced.
In the announcement, ACMA also released industry rules for the register, whereby interactive wagering providers will be required to promote BetStop through their website, apps and marketing.
The rules also explain how wagering providers can find out if their customers are registered with BetStop, and note that if a customer is registered, the provider must stop offering them wagering services and close their account.
BetStop will allow people to register to be excluded from all Australian licensed online and phone wagering services from three months to permanently.
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