With their conservative governments, gambling has not been as widespread in the East as it has been in Europe and North America. That does not mean that there is no market for the casino crowd, it has just been a difficult time getting some of the Asian governments to approve and legalize gambling. In recent years however, the governments of some Asian countries have begun to look at casinos as a way to bring in tourist dollars and attitude are beginning to change.
China
In communist China, gambling is a big no-no on the mainland where minor slips to the strict adherence to the anti-gambling law can result in fines or jail. However, there exists a former Portuguese territory called Macau, which is the gambling capital of the world. With seven times the gambling revenue of Las Vegas, Macau brings an incredible amount of tourist dollars to China. The government seems to have no issue with Macau. With gamblers from all over the world, including the mainland China, flocking to Macau it is easy to see why it makes economic sense to legalize gambling in that territory. Will the unprecedented success of Macau encourage other gambling Meccas in China? There are no solid plans yet, but there have been rumors of casino companies showing interest in some of China’s biggest cities.
Vietnam
Gambling is illegal in Vietnam, if you are Vietnamese-for everybody else, there are a few small casinos. Encouraged by the success of Macau, the government of Vietnam attempted to open casinos to lure some of Macau’s revenue dollars into their own country. The have had only minimum success, with stalled projects and funding issues. That may all be about to change; rumours in the industry predict it is only a matter of time before the Vietnamese government legalizes gambling throughout the country. And this might even include online gambling on web pages like M88 Vietnam. There hopes are to lure the big Casinos, such as the Las Vegas Sands and GentingBhd who have formerly expressed interest in the country.
Japan
Japan has a national lottery and sports-betting is legal but it has not embraced casinos. Although the government has not made any announcements about changing their stance, both Sheldon Adelson from the Las Vegas Sands Corporation and James Packer, chairman ofMelco Crown Entertainment are hedging their bets (so to speak) that Japan will soon legalize gambling. There was a bill submitted to the Japanese senate last December and the two billionaires are anxiously awaiting the outcome. In the meantime, they have not been sitting still; both parties have set-up offices and have been talking to partners.
It does appear that times are changing and that gambling is slowly but surely becoming less of a cultural no-no in the East and is beginning to look like a great revenue maker. With each small inroad, the world of gambling becomes more acceptable, and thus we can expect more legalized gambling ventures in Asia in the future.
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