Japan casinos won’t cannibalise the industry

According to Fitch Ratings, casino developement in Japan isn’t likely to trigger cannibalisation within the Asia-Pacific region.

Japan.- Gambling jurisdictions across the Asia-Pacific region will not likely be affected by the future opening of multi-billion dollar casinos in Japan, according to international credit-debt watcher Fitch Ratings. Worries about casino cannibalisation in the region are apparently unfunded since the firm says it won’t be triggered.

On the other hand, Vicky Melbourne, the ratings agency’s head of Industrials, Property and Consumer for South and Southeast Asia, explained that the outcome of each gambling jurisdiction depends on the products it offers in their respective area. According to Melbourne, most of the growth seen is in the mass market. “So if you have a VIP-centric approach, I think that’s where you find some sort of cannibalisation when Japan [casino market] opens,” she said.

That argument can be backed up with the case of Macau, a country that recovered from a 20-month revenue tumble thanks to the knock-on effect across its market generated by the surge of properties targeting mass-market.

“Genting Singapore and Marina Bay Sands were obviously impacted by the crackdown [in Macau]. There’s sort of two to three percent growth in the market. They got sorts of benefits from the regulatory front. In terms of licenses in 2017, will the government look to open new casinos? We don’t think so,” she stated. “In Singapore, it is all about targeting the tourism. And we’ve seen the tourism numbers grow. From a regulatory sort of perspective, they do have some sort of protections.”