| | |  | Last Updated: Tuesday, June 19, 2007 |  | | | Asia Seen as Fastest Growing Gambling Market
- Thursday, 23 Feb 2006
According to analysts at consultancy firm Globalysis, Asia is the fastest growing online gambling market in the world. The increased affluence in the region, along with the well known Chinese love of gambling, has influenced several gaming companies to test their fortunes in the Asian market. Led by rapid growth in the tiny Chinese city of Macau, revenues from Asia's 80 or so licensed casinos are predicted to increase by 20 percent to US$13 billion in 2006. Gambling firms that operate illegally are expected to make an estimated $100 billion.
Millions of foreign tourists visit Macau each year, many of them for the gambling action. Chinese gambling fans can also find firms operating in North Korea and Vietnam, while Thai gamblers have access to Cambodia. Similarly, Singapore’s ban on gambling doesn’t deter many fans from attending events on cruise ships that remain outside the country’s jurisdiction in international waters.
Local gambling resorts are also attracting high levels of interest. Texan millionaire Steve Wynn of Wynn Resorts and rival Las Vegas Sands are both building gambling resorts that will be fully operational by 2009. The companies are keen to capitalize on the region’s increasing pool of large players. Asia now has an estimated 2.3 million people with at least $1 million in financial assets, almost as many as the U.S.
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