The President and CEO of the American Gaming Association, Bill Miller, said Tuesday that he fully expects Asia’s gaming jurisdictions to maintain their strong growth momentum into the future, driven by a renewed thirst by customers for “life experiences”.
Miller delivered the Keynote Address on the opening day of G2E Asia at The Venetian Macao on Tuesday morning, after which he took part in a fireside chat with Inside Asian Gaming’s Vice Chairman and CEO, and G2E Asia conference chair, Andrew W Scott.
Asked if he saw Asia following the incredibly strong recovery cycle experienced by the United States, which reopened post-COVID considerably earlier than most Asian jurisdictions, the AGA chief said he saw a similar thirst for experiences across Asia as he has witnessed back on home soil.
“I absolutely believe that there will be, and already is, tremendous momentum here [in Asia] and I believe that will be sustained,” Miller explained.
“There was a tragedy that happened in terms of the loss of life during the pandemic but there was also a loss of life experience – a loss of those things that you took for granted.
“I think that people have a slightly different outlook on life now in terms of realizing that things aren’t as important, experiences are more important. That’s one of the things that I see has happened in the US – people really value the experiences that we bring, whether it’s the casino floor or the entertainment element or restaurants or shows. All of those types of things really help contribute to what I believe to be a completely different viewpoint for most humans who experienced this level of shut down, and then this pent up demand upon opening.”
Miller added that the US gaming industry, home to more than 1,000 land-based casinos when taking into account both commercial and tribal operations, not only demonstrated tremendous growth post-COVID but appears to have settled into a new norm.
“There are people who cover our industry both in the US and globally who said 2022 will be great, and 2023 will start great but as it tails off it won’t be so great. And each quarter the naysayers have continued to say ‘We’re never going to beat the last quarter,’ yet somehow the numbers continue to be good,” Miller said.
“There is no doubt in the US we are not riding these big double digit increases anymore, there is more of a normalization and that’s fine, but I also think people have a slightly different attitude around experiences and that benefits our industry, whether it be the US, Asia or anywhere else.”
