Asia’s largest gaming exhibition began in Macau yesterday but concerns are growing that rising labor costs and infrastructure hurdles could test the territory’s stellar economic growth.
More than 6,000 gaming professionals from around the world are expected to converge on the giant Venetian casino resort for the Global Gaming Expo Asia (G2E Asia) 2008, double the number from last year, organizers said.
The three-day event will showcase the latest slot machines, security software and equipment, and gaming devices from more than 180 international suppliers.
To coincide with the start of the expo, a survey of trends in the Asian gambling market predicted that gaming revenues in the region would overtake those of the US by 2012.
The expo, however, comes as Macau strains after years of spectacular growth, which the government last year said took its revenues above US$10.34 billion. This exceeded the Las Vegas Strip and was just shy of the wider Las Vegas area.
But Gabriel Chan, gaming analyst at Credit Suisse in Hong Kong, said growth is set to slow significantly in the next few years.
One key factor is a worker shortage that has driven up labor costs to the equivalent of 11 percent of total gaming revenues, a substantial proportion operators have to reduce, Chan said.
“Importing laborers from mainland China would address the problem,” Chan said. “However, it will also drag down the pay levels of Macau people and so the government will definitely not consider the move in short term.”
Macau in recent years has suffered from labor protests by workers concerned about the influx of Chinese and foreign employees and downward pressure on wages.
Chan was unconvinced that casino resorts would be able to diversify their sources of revenues by bringing in shows that have worked well in Las Vegas.
“How many mainland Chinese gamblers are going to spend US$1,000 on a Cirque du Soleil show rather that on the baccarat? The idea is questionable,” he said, referring to the Venetian’s resident show that opens in August.
US casino giants, such as Las Vegas Sands and Wynn, have already made strong returns in Macau.
Another 15 casinos will open in the next four years, Las Vegas-based casino strategy consultancy Globalysis said in a report released last month, raising questions of oversupply and stretched infrastructure.
However, more than 80 percent of 23 casino executives, academics and analysts interviewed in the survey released yesterday said it was very likely (67 percent) or somewhat likely (17 percent) that gaming revenues in Asia will surpass those of the US by 2012.
Forty-five percent of respondents predicted that Taiwan would be the next Asian country to legalize casino resorts, while 24 percent chose Japan and another 21 percent opted for Thailand.
However, 78 percent of respondents thought it would take at least seven years before electronic slot-machine games would generate as much revenue as table games in Asia.
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
RSS