Research Library

Research Brief: The 2016 US Election

Posted on November 7, 2016

The United States’ Election Day is upon us and by this time tomorrow the U.S. will know who has won one of the most divisive races in the nation’s history. As world awaits the results of the election, GMA has provided the following snapshot of some key items the gaming and hospitality industry should watch for as the evening unfolds.

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Research Brief: Gaming in India

Posted on July 16, 2016

Since the release of Global Market Advisor’s (“GMA”) white paper entitled “Gaming-In-India-White-Paper” in April 2016, India’s gaming market has evolved with a new gaming license issued in Goa and the potential legalization of gaming in India’s second largest populated state: Maharashtra. In this research brief, GMA quantifies the value of the potential gaming market in Maharashtra and includes an updated review of the gaming market in Goa.

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History and Current Status of Gaming in Taiwan: A White Paper

Posted on June 16, 2016

Taiwan has long been a venue of interest among foreign casino investors, originally because of the importance of Taiwan as a source of customers and more recently because of the potential to reach Chinese customers through the ever-increasing transportation and tourism links between Taiwan and China. The effort to bring casino gaming to Taiwan, however, has been a journey of stops and starts over the past 25-plus years, though there has been fairly steady progress since 2009.

In 2009, the Taiwanese island of Penghu held a public referendum on the establishment of casino-based tourist zones. The referendum was the culmination of nearly twenty years of advocacy on the part of politicians, gaming companies, university professors and professional advisors. The referendum failed. However, in 2012, Matsu held a referendum that passed. While the success of Matsu’s referendum was supposed to politically incentivize the Taiwanese government to pass gaming legislation regulating casino operations, and the government did retain a law firm to draft the Tourism Casino Administration Act (the “Act”), the Act has been stalled in Taiwan’s legislature since 2013.

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Asia’s Sleeping Tiger

Posted on April 21, 2016

Since the emergence of Macau and Singapore as two of the world’s largest gaming markets, casino developers have looked at other jurisdictions within Asia for the next great opportunity. Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, the Primorye region of Eastern Russia, the Philippines and Cambodia have all generated varying amounts of interest from international casino developers. Japan, with its large and prosperous population, now appears to be out of play, at least for the foreseeable future.

The remaining countries’ nascent casino industries are all highly dependent on gamers from China and, as has been clearly demonstrated over the past two years, gaming revenue from Chinese. As such, the next great Asian casino development opportunity remains elusive.

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Gaming in India: An Evaluation of the Market’s Potential

Posted on April 16, 2016

Although Macau’s gaming market is struggling, its reliance on the Chinese gamer still allows it to dominate the global gaming landscape and maintain its role as the largest gaming market in the world. As a result, the global gaming industry remains transfixed by the potential value of the Chinese gaming market. Not surprisingly, gaming destinations throughout the Asia Pacific region, including Singapore, Cambodia, Philippines, Vietnam and South Korea, have opened hoping to capitalize on the market’s potential. Some gaming operators have attempted to target other possible valuable demand segments in Asia like the Japanese. With these large sources of demand capturing the attention of the gaming industry, many gaming operators and markets have yet to fully explore other alternative sources of Asian based gaming demand.

So far, few gaming operators have considered China’s democratic and capitalistic neighbor, India, as a potential source of demand. India shares many of the same characteristics that make China such an attractive source of gaming demand. India also has a large, prosperous economy, an enormous population, and favorable consumer/gaming habits. On top of that, India is able to offer a stable and less reactionary government and volatile economy.

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Strategies to Grow International Tourism into Las Vegas and Stimulate Economic Activity

Posted on November 16, 2015

Few would argue that sustained growth in air passenger volume into Las Vegas is a critical factor in the health and vibrancy of the Southern Nevada tourism industry. While McCarran International Airport (“LAS”) continues to enjoy steady growth in domestic passenger volume, growth in international traffic has experienced a far higher rate in the last five years, fueled by the opening of the new international terminal and marketing initiatives by the Clark County Department of Aviation. International visitation grew from 14% of total visitor volume in 2009 to 20% in 2013.1 International tourism continues to represent the greatest opportunity for new market growth, particularly visitors from Asian countries.

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Urban Alliances: The unique challenges of building casinos in a city

Posted on May 25, 2015

Casinos located in cities have long had an uneasy alliance with their host communities.

Local municipalities have enjoyed the tax revenues and jobs that casinos brought and civic leaders have recognized the charitable contributions casino leadership have made to their communities, as well as their greater economic contributions. Yet, cities have long treated casinos with a certain degree of disdain, relegating them to locations that would be unappealing to any hotel developer.

At the same time, many city governments have showered developers of sports venues, hotels and convention centers with a wealth of benefits including tax abatements, generous land leases, municipal bond funding and sales tax rebates in the hope that those developments would somehow lead to a revitalization of their urban cores.

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Casinos and the City – A White Paper

Posted on April 16, 2015

Casinos and the places where they can be found have increased dramatically over the last twenty five years. Where at one time there were only a few places on the planet where one could go to participate in legal gambling activities, today casinos are a fairly common enterprise. In the United States alone, there are over 900 commercial and Indian gaming establishments. Casinos can be found not only in North America but also throughout Europe, Central and South America, Oceana and Asia.

Since the passage of the Casino Control Act in 1976, legalizing casino gaming in Atlantic City, NJ, casinos have been narrowly viewed as a tool for urban redevelopment, providing tax revenues to state and local governments and jobs to its citizens. Their success in providing those benefits cannot be disputed. Collectively, the casinos in Atlantic City, the riverboat and barge casinos in the Midwest and southeast United States, Indian casinos, and the land-based commercial casinos in a number of US cities as well as those on the Macau Peninsula and Singapore have contributed billions of dollars to government coffers and created hundreds of thousands of jobs. However, their success as a tool for stimulating commercial activity within the neighborhoods that they are located in has produced less dramatic results.

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New Kid in Town: Can Vietnam emerge as an international gaming-resort destination?

Posted on January 13, 2015

Despite the recent downturn in gaming revenue in Macau, Asia remains the region of the world with the greatest opportunities for casino development. While Japan and Taiwan remain the most enticing markets, if only enabling legislation were to be passed, other markets are attracting the interest of casino developers. Unfortunately, most of those opportunities are in markets that are loosely regulated, difficult to get to, surrounded by poor infrastructure or require border crossings that can best be described as challenging.

One market that continues to interest investors is Vietnam. With 92 million citizens, a burgeoning middle class, good airport infrastructure and airlift to a number of nearby countries, Vietnam appears poised to emerge as a regional gaming market that is capable of producing a prodigious amount of gaming revenue. Nevertheless, a number of issues must be resolved before the country can live up to its potential.

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The Tipping Point: Rising slot hold percentages are driving players away, and revenue down

Posted on October 23, 2014

Gaming revenues, and in particular slot revenues, continue to decline in most U.S. gaming jurisdictions. This pattern of decline began at the onset of the recession and has continued even as the economy improved.

Casino operators often cite increases in gaming supply in adjacent states and a slow economic recovery in their markets as reasons for this decline. While the recession certainly affected discretionary spending during the height of the recession, hitting casino gambling hard, the U.S. economy has largely recovered. Gaming revenues, though, have not.

Key macro-economic indexes have returned to pre-recession levels. Two indexes, employment and consumer confidence, have long served as bellwethers for gaming revenue forecasts. In August 2013 the U.S. unemployment rate stood at 7.5 percent, down from 8.2 percent for the prior-year period. By August 2014, the unemployment rate dropped to 6.4 percent. In August 2013, the consumer confidence index stood at 80.3, up from 75.3 in 2012. By August 2014 it rose to 82.0.

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