Why Asia May Be a Sucker Bet Online-Gambling Firms Target the Far East,
But Hurdles Await
HONG KONG -- Online-gambling companies are turning to Asia in the face of a looming ban on their business in the U.S., but despite Asia's millions of avid punters, success in the region is no sure bet.
Most Asian countries ban gambling, unless it is through specifically sanctioned channels -- whether casinos, Web sites or, in Hong Kong's case, the Jockey Club. Japan only allows gambling on pinball, motorboat racing and horse racing. China blocks access to gambling sites through Internet-service providers, and South Korea and Taiwan frequently crack down on betting sites.
The Philippines is the only Asian country to offer Internet-gambling licenses for online-casino operators, allowing several European and Caribbean sites to hold live casinos in its Cagayan Special Economic Zone. Foreign-exchange rules make it difficult for Filipinos themselves to gamble on those sites, according to a person familiar with the industry
Gambling sites looking to target Asia, PartyGaming PLC, which generates more than two thirds of its revenue in the U.S., will have their work cut out for them -- and not just because of the difficulties in moving money in and out of many countries in Asia.
"Asia currently accounts for 10% of the world's online-gaming market, but online-gambling growth here will continue to be slow," says Jason Chan, chief executive officer at Macau-based Macom Communications Company Ltd., which markets games and sells customized gambling programs for online sports betting and other activities.
"Basically, on top of legal bans, there's limited broadband access in the region -- though that is changing fast -- immature online payments and currency controls, which won't change anytime soon."
"Then you've also got the issue of culture: the reason Asian online gaming has not grown as fast as the rest of the world is because people are skeptical about putting money upfront, and fears of credit-card fraud persist," Mr. Chan says.
Late last month, the U.S. Congress approved a bill on Internet gambling, which President George W. Bush is expected to sign and make law. The bill would make it illegal for banks and credit-card companies to make payments to gambling sites.
The stock prices of several online-gambling companies -- Including PartyGaming, Sportingbet PLC and 888 Holdings PLC -- have been hit hard by the pending U.S. legislation and have seen their shares fall sharply on the London Stock Exchange. Shares in Austria's Bwin Interactive Entertainment Inc. have also lost ground on the Vienna exchange.
Although U.S. residents account for more than half of the business of online casinos, none of the big online companies currently have U.S. operations. Instead they base their companies in Europe, Asia, the Caribbean and Central America. That is because the U.S. has, since 1961, prohibited using telephone transmissions to bet across state lines.
World online-gambling "spend" is expected to be about US$15.5 billion this year, if the U.S. ban isn't taken into account, compared with US$12.5 billion in 2005, according to the Betting Research Unit at Nottingham Business School in the U.K. Spend is, in effect, the amount gambling companies win from their clients -- or the amount gamblers lose -- and is much less than revenue because most of the revenue is recycled to gamblers in the form of winnings.
"The Asian market has massive potential. Asian spend on online gambling has grown about fivefold in the last five years," says Prof. Leighton Vaughan Williams, director of the Betting Research Unit. "Asia's market is about a third of the U.S. -- and we expect it to match the current U.S. market size in about four to five years."
So how do Asia's gamblers skirt the rules?
"The government might say it's illegal, but that doesn't necessarily stem the demand -- people find a way," says Sue Schneider, chief executive of Missouri-based online-gambling consultancy and publisher River City Group.
Most European-listed gambling sites reject Asian credit cards when signing on, and online companies generally don't have formal staff based in Asia. But gambling sites reach Asian bettors by accepting wire transfers, allowing gamblers to set up standing accounts, using gambling syndicates that accept bets through mobile-phone messages, accepting checks or phone banking, selling betting vouchers using credit cards or taking third-party intermediary payments from companies such as MoneyWorld in Malaysia and Singapore or MoneyTT in China.
In Hong Kong, apart from the government-sanctioned Jockey Club Web sites, Internet-research group Hitwise says the top gambling Web sites ranked by share of visits are
www.888crown.com and
www.macauslot.com, a site owned by Macau gambling kingpin Stanley Ho. Macauslot.com is a subsidiary of Mr. Ho's Sociedade De Turismo e Diversoes De Macau, whose 80% owned Sociedade de Jogos de Macau SA is one of the three concession holders in the former Portuguese enclave.
Mr. Ho's daughter, Angela, is chief executive of another popular gambling site,
www.drho888.com, which features scantily clad live female "dealers." That site has fans around the region and allows Hong Kong, Japan and Malaysian punters, among others, to register using their mobile phone as an electronic ID and keying in a secret PIN number.
In Singapore, Hong Kong-based
www.asianbookie.com has almost as many fans as the government-sanctioned
www.singaporepools.com.sg.Even in China, where the police cracked down on several online-betting rings during the World Cup earlier this year, people are avid users of betting sites.
Taiwan-based, Nasdaq-listed GigaMedia Ltd., whose FunTown game portal is the world's largest mahjong site in terms of revenue, is popular in Taiwan and in China. There are also Chinese-based "lottery Web sites," which operate similarly to betting sites.
"Through these online-lottery sites, you can play the stock market and win virtual points -- which you can redeem for gifts ranging from telephone calling cards to mobile phones," says Tony Tong, chief executive of Nasdaq-listed PacificNet Inc. His company provides electronic-commerce and gambling technology in China.
博彩网站将目标锁定亚洲
由于美国新近通过的旨在限制网络博彩的法案即将生效，网络博彩公司将目光转向了亚洲，不过尽管亚洲存在着数百万跃跃欲试的博彩爱好者，它们在该地区能否取得成功还是个未知数。
除了允许通过一些特别渠道（例如获得批准的赌场、网站和香港的赛马会(Jockey Club)）进行赌博外，亚洲多数国家禁止赌博。日本只允许弹子机、赛艇和跑马方面的博彩。而中国则禁止通过网络服务供应商访问博彩网站，韩国和台湾也不断取缔了很多博彩网站。
博彩相关报导
? 澳门博彩业激战正酣
? 澳门博彩谁主沉浮？
? 澳门经济增长放缓，博彩业趋冷
菲律宾是亚洲唯一一个向网络赌场运营商发放博彩牌照的国家，该国允许欧洲和加勒比海地区的网站在Cagayan特别经济区开设实地赌场。据了解博彩行业的人士称，外汇管制政策限制了菲律宾人对网络博彩的参与。
在众多博彩网站锁定亚洲市场的同时，PartyGaming PLC却打算关闭亚洲业务（该公司三分之二的收入来自美国）－－不仅仅是因为向亚洲很多国家转帐存在困难。
“亚洲目前在全球网路博彩市场中占10%，不过这里的业务增长仍将很慢，”澳门博艺传播事业有限公司(Macom Communications Company Ltd.)首席执行长Jason Chan表示。博艺传播主要从事游戏推广，以及为网络体育博彩及其他博彩活动销售定制的博彩项目。
“除了法律限制外，该地区的宽带普及率也非常有限－－不过宽带普及率正在迅猛增长，此外不成熟的网上支付系统和外汇监管也束缚了网络博彩业的发展，这些在短期内都很难改变。”
“还有文化问题：亚洲网络博彩业不如其他地区发展的那么快，其中一个很重要的原因就是，这里的人们不愿提前支付，他们对信用卡欺诈的担忧也仍然存在，”Chan说。
上月底，美国国会批准了一项旨在限制网络博彩的法案，并且布什总统(George W. Bush)有望很快签署该法案使之生效。该法案将禁止银行和信用卡公司为博彩网站提供转帐服务。
受此消息影响，包括PartyGaming、Sportingbet PLC和888 Holdings PLC在内的几家博彩网站的股票遭受沉重打击，它们在伦敦交易所上市的股票大幅下挫。奥地利的Bwin Interactive Entertainment Inc.也在维也纳市场走低。
尽管美国居民在网上博彩业务中占到一半以上，但目前却没有任何大型网络公司运营美国业务。它们通常将总部设在欧洲、亚洲、加勒比海国家和中美洲。因为从1961年开始美国一直禁止使用电话传输方式进行跨州赌博。
据英国诺丁汉商学院(Nottingham Business School)博彩研究院预测，如果不考虑美国限制网络博彩的因素，全球网络博彩“支出”今年将达到155亿美元，高于去年的125亿美元。事实上，这部分“支出”，即客户输掉的钱，并非全部落入博彩公司的口袋，多数收入被转到了赢者的手中。
博彩研究院主任莱顿?沃恩?威廉姆斯(Leighton Vaughan Williams)说，“亚洲市场存在巨大潜力。亚洲人过去5年用于博彩的支出增长了4倍。”他说，“亚洲市场仅相当于美国市场的三分之一－－而且我们认为在四、五年内就将赶上美国目前的规模。”
那么亚洲赌客将如何绕开法律的限制呢？
密苏里州网络博彩咨询及发行商River City Group的首席执行长休?施耐德(Sue Schneider)说，“政府可能会说，赌博是非法的，但这并不意味着就能遏制需求－－人们可以找到其他途径。”
在欧洲上市的博彩网站大多数拒绝亚洲信用卡，它们通常也并不在亚洲设立正式的办事机构。不过博彩网站可通过电子支付方式与赌客交割，赌客们可以建立固定帐户、通过赌博联合会进行交易，这些赌博联合会接受赌客的手机短信，支票或电话银行付款，通过使用信用卡或者使用像MoneyWorld和MoneyTT这样的第三方支付中介来出售筹码。
互联网研究机构Hitwise表示，在香港，除了政府批准的香港赛马会(Jockey Club Web)网站外，访问量最大的就是皇冠网(
www.888crown.com)和澳门彩票有限公司(
www.macauslot.com)，后者由澳门赌王何鸿
