Japan will remain the key Asian casino market to watch in 2019, even though it is unlikely to have any operating venues before 2025 at the earliest.
Industry observers expect the country’s authorities to announce either some specific criteria or general major requirements for the three so-called integrated resorts (IRs) that will be allowed there in the first phase of liberalisation. More detail is also expected on the formation of an oversight body to be in charge of casino regulation with effect from July 2019.
Elsewhere in Asia, passage of a long-discussed draft gaming law prepared for the Cambodian government – which is due to regulate the country’s gaming business – has been touted as possible in 2019. Meanwhile, online gaming operations in that country – and in the Philippines, another key Asian gaming jurisdiction in Asia – might come under increased scrutiny by interested authorities, several industry consultants remarked to us.
