As the leading media organization covering the Asian gaming and integrated resort (IR) industry, Inside Asian Gaming (IAG) feels a heavy responsibility to fairly and accurately report on the daily news of our industry, and to offer insightful, fair and balanced opinion and analysis. During 2020 the volume of industry news and reporting has increased dramatically, to almost double normal levels.
The sheer volume of work sees IAG now operating close to 24 hours a day, and our daily news channel IAG Breakfast Briefing has gone from a daily average of five stories each day in prior years to around eight or nine stories daily this year – some days as many as 11 stories! Further adding to the workload is the fact that both IAG Breakfast Briefing and our monthly IAG magazine are presented in three languages: Chinese, Japanese and English.
Our events business has been substantially affected, during a year when holding industry events is crucially important, given the difficulties we have all faced and the imperative need for us all to stick together in a spirit of solidarity, co-operation and mutual respect and support. We are absolutely delighted that we have been able to ensure the Asian Gaming Power 50 Black Tie Gala Dinner will be held this year, on Friday 6 November, during a time when almost all events have been cancelled or postponed.
This has only been possible through the strong support of great businesses such as venue sponsor Sands China; venue Parisian; red carpet welcome cocktails sponsor Solaire; platinum sponsors Aristocrat, Scientific Games and Suncity; gold sponsors Galaxy Entertainment, MGM China, Melco Resorts, SJM and Wynn Macau; and beverage sponsor Macau Beer.
The pressure on IAG’s staff, clients and readers has been intense and sustained throughout the year, but we realize we are not alone in this regard. This strain has been felt by almost all of us in this industry.
In addition to the increased workload and pressures, we’ve seen Asian gaming industry participants – in particular operators and suppliers – hit hard by COVID-19, severely affecting their revenues, which in turn has affected IAG’s revenue.
Nevertheless, IAG is very optimistic about the long-term future of the Asian gaming, IR and tourism industries. Our hard work during this difficult time has further cemented our position as the leading industry media outlet, and we appreciate all the positive comments and encouragement we’ve received from our readers during this tough year. The fact that IAG has been able to survive what has been the worst year in living memory for media companies globally is testament to IAG’s resilience in the face of adversity. I personally owe my deepest gratitude to the staff of IAG and our clients – both have been unwavering in their support of our small company, which I like to think punches above its weight in our industry.
I would like to take this opportunity to let all of you in the industry know that the management and staff of IAG are deeply committed to what we do and we are doubling down on our efforts. We are all working hard to maintain and even improve our already high editorial standards, to continue to be the original source for most stories published by media covering the Asian gaming industry, and also to support our industry through the long recovery ahead in whatever ways IAG can.
We are looking forward to 2021 with high hopes. Through the year to come we will continue to be the leading source of Asian gaming industry news, each and every day. We’ll continue to keep up with the relentless pace and volume of industry news. We’ll continue to be the first media outlet to publish industry breaking news. We’ll continue to run our great events like the Power 50 and our quarterly Macau After Dark (MAD) industry networking evenings. And when leading industry trade events such as exhibitions and conferences do eventually return, you can rest assured we will continue to be front and centre at those.
Finally, despite the recent setbacks for the industry rollout in Japan, we remain deeply committed to our IAG Japan brand and through 2021 we’ll continue to publish both daily reporting through our Japanese language IAG Daily brand, and deeper opinion and analysis articles through our monthly bilingual Japanese and English industry magazine IAG Japan. And we remain committed to playing a leading role in industry events in Japan just as soon as they return.
We at IAG wish each and every company and executive working in our industry the very best for the rest of 2020, the 2021 year ahead, and the future beyond – and I look forward to seeing many industry friends at the Asian Gaming Power 50 on the evening of Friday 6 November at the Parisian ballroom in Macau.
With deepest respect and gratitude,
Andrew
Andrew W Scott
Vice Chairman and CEO
Inside Asian Gaming (IAG)
