Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JAPAN NOV 2021 8 50/50 vision Ben Blaschke Managing Editor We crave your feedback. Please email your comments to bb@asgam.com. I t’s amazing how fast November seems to come around each year. Of course, I say that because November is themonth inwhichwe unveil our annual Asian Gaming Power 50 list, which in the 14 years since it was first published and the five years since I was first involved has grown to become IAG ’s signature annual event. Compiling the Power 50 takes months of planning and a full year of work, with the IAG team constantly tracking the comings and goings of each candidate, the progress of the companies they work for and all manner of factors that could influence where they rank come November. Inevitably, each year sees candidates fall off the list – some of them forever, some only temporarily – and a handful of worthy newcomers staking their claim to lead our industry into the future. Either way, it is vital that the IAG team stays abreast of everything that is happening – a job we all take very seriously. So what stories have caught my eye this year? COVID-19 has again dominated the region and I’ve lost count of the number of articles I’ve written over the past 18 months on casinos opening and closing, borders doing the same and gaming revenues being “impacted by the global COVID-19 pandemic.” Japan has also been a major focus, with the three remaining candidate locations all choosing their preferred operator partners and a fourth, Yokohama, dramatically pulling the plug at the last minute. In my country of origin, Australia, the ongoing saga of Crown Resorts and its regulatory challenges has been fascinating to follow, and it looks like we’ll be seeing much of the same when it comes to its local rival Star Entertainment Group in the coming months. Finally, in Macau, recent developments around the upcoming re-tendering process for gaming concessions and the publication of proposed amendments to Macau’s gaming law will go a long way towards shaping the regional outlook for the next decade or more. It’s likely the way this story plays out will also have a significant impact on the Power 50 in 2022! In the meantime, I hope you enjoy our 2021 Asian Gaming Power 50, and I welcome your feedback on how we have assessed the events of another eventful year. www.asgam.com EDITORIAL