Inside Asian Gaming

43 April 2014 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING REGIONAL BRIEFS Asia’s ‘Oscars’ Held in Macau City of Dreams hosted the 2014 Asian Film Awards on 27th March, bringing the most prestigious event in Asian cinema to Macau for the first time. The “Oscars of Asia,” as the awards are known, were held at the Cotai resort’s House of Dancing Water theater. The awards, now in its eighth year, had been held in Hong Kong for the first seven, organizedby the city’s International FilmFestival Society. “We understand that playing such an important role of supporting this dazzling extravaganza and influential cultural event will help position Macau as the cinematic magnet that brings together the best cinematic talents and professionals in Asia,” said Ted Chan, chief operating officer of CoD’s owner, Melco Crown Entertainment. China Targets Mobile ‘Gambling’ Games The fees, totaling up to US$200,000 for a license plus annual renewal and royalty duties of up to $500,000, were challenged by the industry, which numbers some 10 foreigners-only casinos employing around 15,000 people in tourist destinations across the small state nestled in the Himalayas between India and China. The casinos also owe the government some 1 billion Nepalese rupees (US$10 million) in back duties, according to news reports. The high court ruling required all operators to renew their licenses by 21st March or be declared illegal and subject to possible closure. The Nepal government has said it would scrap the licenses of any casinos that fail to pay outstanding dues by 4th April. A source at Nepal’s Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation said: “Everybody knows that they will not clear the dues as they remained idle for about seven years. The final extension of the deadline for license renewal is aimed at sending a strong message that the authorities will seal the casinos for good irrespective of opposition from the casino operators and staff.” The casinos that face closure are: Casino Royale at Yak and Yeti Hotel, Casino Mahjong at Soaltee, Casino Tara at Hyatt, Casino Anna at Del Annapurna, Casino Everest at Everest Hotel, Casino Venus at Malla, Casino Rad at Radisson and Casino Fulbari at Fulbari Resort. Marina Bay Sands Seeking 1,500 More Rooms Las Vegas Sands has asked the government of Singapore to increase its land allotment at Marina Bay Sands so it can add 1,500 more hotel rooms to the resort. “We need more rooms,” said Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson, who traveled to the city-state to make the company’s pitch in person. “We are running at 100% occupancy. On a bad day it’s 98%. No other hotel in the world runs like this except some in Vegas.” Marina Bay Sands opened in the spring of 2010 at a cost of US$6 billion and is the largest hotel in Singapore with 2,563 rooms. LVS reported US$360 million in room revenue at the resort last year, an increase year on year of 11%. Average daily rate was $396 on 98.6% occupancy. The occupancy rate citywide was 86.3%. LVS said the land allotment also will allow the company to add more MICE space, which it says will enhance government plans to further develop the downtown waterfront area where MBS is located with pedestrian walkways, performance spaces, a museum, restaurants and one of the world’s largest Ferris wheels. MBS currently houses about 1.2 million square feet of meeting and convention space along with two Broadway-style theaters. China’s Ministry of Culture has ordered some 27 mobile phone platforms, including Baidu and Android, to clean up their act as part of a broad crackdown on applications offering gambling-related content. The ministry is honing in on lottery-style in-app purchases that increase a game player’s chances of winning or receiving a reward, a marketing tool that could be perceived as promoting gambling. Twenty of the companies have responded to the order with reports detailing corrections they have made in their apps or games, including deleting information that pertains to gambling and/ or canceling lottery-style in-app purchasing. The remaining seven have received administrative penalties. China’s mobile games industry generated US$2.24 billion in revenue last year, a year-on-year increase of 112%, according to government data. The country now has 170 million users of offline mobile games and 120 million of online games. Li Gang, an official with the ministry, said the size of the market is making it increasingly hard to supervise, but he said further actions will be taken, including publication of a manual on irregularities in in-app purchases and regular updates to a blacklist of companies found advocating gambling and other content the government considers offensive. Nepal’s Casinos Ordered To Pay Up Nepal’s Supreme Court has upheld a slate of new casino fees promulgated by the government last year as part of a bid to regularize the market through formal licensing. The rooftop infinity pool at Marina Bay Sands