The President and CEO of industry lobby group and G2E Asia organizer the American Gaming Association (AGA) said Tuesday that combatting illegal gambling is a global concern that can only be overcome if international regulators and law enforcement agencies work together.
Speaking at the G2E Asia Special Edition: Singapore conference, Bill Miller noted that the gaming industry was becoming increasingly global by nature whereby the “issues that hurt one of us, hurt all of us and the issues that help one of us, help all of us as well.”
“Illegal gambling is an issue that tops our list of responsibilities in the United States and together we need to make a global commitment,” he said.
“We know that legal, regulated gambling is better for communities, safer for consumer and advantageous to the industry. Illegal, unregulated gambling is our industry’s greatest threat. It poses a threat to competition, reputation, communities and customers, and creates an unfair advantage in the marketplace. It preys on vulnerable populations, doesn’t provide any player protections and siphons revenues away from public services.”
According to Miller, Americans turnover around US$511 billion on unregulated gambling sites each year, costing the nation an estimated US$14 billion in tax revenues, and warned that Asia faces similar concerns.
“This is a shared threat because illegal gambling doesn’t stop at one country’s borders,” he said. “Illegal operators and their websites can take consumers from legal markets all over the world. That’s one reason why we must unite as a global industry – we will be more effective acting together as one.”
Separately, Miller references the experience garnered in his four years in charge of the AGA – he took over in 2019 just in time for COVID-19 to hit – and explained that while the impact of the pandemic had been devastating, it had also created an opportunity for the industry to re-energize.
“We worked tirelessly to try and figure out what we could do but we also recognized that the demographics, the planet, was getting older, so how could we create an offering that is more sustainable?” Miller said.
“We were fortunate in many ways in that casinos opened before theaters and before arcades and what we were able to do was use that ‘first to open’ advantage to attract a younger demographic to our casinos. That has contributed to a stronger run of GGR across the world, so I’m bullish for the same dynamic to happen across Asia because we are continuing to offer modern, mainstream, really exciting entertainment options in addition to gaming.”
G2E Asia: Singapore kicked off on Tuesday with Miller’s keynote speech opening the conference before a Grand Opening Ceremony took place on the exhibition floor – signalling the start of the first fully-fledged gaming industry trade show in Asia since the COVID-19 pandemic.
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