Government Law & Policies

Research Brief: Sports Betting & Recent U.S. State Legislative Action

Posted on July 17, 2017

As the calendar reaches the midpoint, many state legislatures are adjourning for the summer or finalizing their budgets prior to the start of the fiscal year. The end of June is also the time when the Supreme Court of the United States’ (SCOTUS) term comes to an end, decisions are rendered, and announcements made for cases to be taken up in the next term that begins in October. GMA provides the following summary of relevant legislative happenings across the United States.

Last week, SCOTUS changed the dialogue within the United States gaming landscape when it announced that it would hear the New Jersey sports betting case (Christie Vs. NCAA) in its next term. Currently, only Nevada, Delaware, Montana, and Oregon allow some form of sports betting. The American Gaming Association (AGA) estimates that the illegal, unregulated sports betting market is a $150 billion-a-year industry. Many estimate that number to be far greater. While most in the industry see this as an opportunity on sports betting, a ruling by SCOTUS in this case has far more to do with states’ rights than wagering on sports.

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White Paper: Japan Integrated Resorts Executive Summary

Posted on May 16, 2017

The next emerging integrated resort market is on the horizon in Japan. After years of debate, Japan is in the process of developing legislation to create the regulatory and market structure for integrated resorts (“IR”). While the debate still has several issues to work through, Japan has the potential to be one of the largest gaming markets in the world with a revenue potential of $24.2 billion, assuming fully developed IRs are introduced in six regions. Global Market Advisors (“GMA”) completed a detailed analysis that examined the current gaming market, the prospective legislation, components of the RFP process, potential sites, definition of an integrated resort, and the full market potential.

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White Paper: Japan Integrated Resorts

Posted on May 16, 2017

The next emerging integrated resort market is on the horizon in Japan. After years of debate, Japan is in the process of developing legislation to create the regulatory and market structure for integrated resorts (“IR”). While the debate still has several issues to work through, Japan has the potential to be one of the largest gaming markets in the world with a revenue potential of $24.2 billion, assuming fully developed IRs are introduced in six regions. Global Market Advisors (“GMA”) completed a detailed analysis that examined the current gaming market, the prospective legislation, components of the RFP process, potential sites, definition of an integrated resort, and the full market potential.

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White Paper: Japan Integrated Resorts (in Japanese)

Posted on May 16, 2017

統合型リゾート市場が次に新たに出現する兆しが日本でも見られる｡数年の議論を経て、日本は統合型リゾート(「IR」)についての規制構造および市場構造を作り出すための立法を開発する過程にある｡この議論にはまだ解決すべき複数の問題がある一方で、完全に開発されたIRが6つの地域で導入されたと仮定すれば､日本は242億ドルの潜在的収益を見込む世界で最大のゲーミング市場の1つになる可能性がある｡グローバル・マーケット・アドバイザーズ(「GMA」)は、現在のゲーミング市場、将来の立法、RFP(事業提案公募)過程の構成要素、潜在的用地、統合型リゾートの定義および総合的な市場可能性を考察した詳細な分析を完了した。

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Regulatory uncertainty continues to cloud prospects

Posted on May 11, 2017

In late February, gaming industry stakeholders converged in Goa at one of India’s first gaming specific conferences: Sports Betting & Gaming India (SBGI). The event, led by Eventus International at the Park Hyatt Goa Resort and Spa, was well attended considering the gaming market is largely in its infancy.

Over 150 attendees discussed several India-specific topics, including the market’s value and potential from an online, lottery, sports betting, and land-based perspective, as well as the regulatory and legislative hurdles involved to expand the market. These types of events have become a necessary first step for stakeholders to understand an emerging market’s value and provide guidelines on how to participate.

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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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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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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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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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