Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JAPAN JUL 2020 58 The Las Vegas Strip has been devastatingly quiet during the coronavirus pandemic. 新型コロナウイルスの世界的流行の間、ラスベガス・ストリップは驚くほど静かだ S ynergy Blue, a manufacturer of arcade-style casino games, recently published results of a survey of 1,000 adult US gamblers. The survey, conducted in late April 2020, uncovered interesting preferences and expectations of casino gamblers if they are to return to casinos now that they've started reopening. The survey presents some sobering statistics. Only 51% of those surveyed said they will gamble in casinos again once casinos reopen. But not all these customers will return without concerns. 26% of those planning to return said they will do so only if the number of active COVID-19 cases drastically reduces. One-fifth of intending returnees would wait for the stay-at-home orders to be lifted, and another one-fifth will do so only after a vaccine for the pandemic becomes available. This survey is corroborated by the experience of casinos in Macau, which have now been open since 20 February. For the last fewmonths, Inside Asian Gaming has been carrying out spot checks on the number of customers in various Macau properties. As of 10 May, the 11 Macau IRs, comprising The Venetian Macao, Parisian Macao, Sands Cotai Central, City of Dreams, Wynn Palace, MGM Cotai, Galaxy Macau, Grand Lisboa, Wynn Macau, MGM Macau and StarWorld, averaged just 14 main gaming floor players during any given midweek afternoon. All counts were conducted on the afternoons of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Just to underscore the contrast, casinos owned by Sands China Limited alone used to attract around 200,000 visitors a day prior to the pandemic. Some analysts observe that visitor numbers in Macau casino properties remain dishearteningly low because of the tight border restrictions in place since late March. However, the scope and nature of restrictions will be no different when Las Vegas or Singapore allows casinos to reopen. Physical barriers such as cross-border travel restrictions (be they interstate or across countries), unavailability of transportation (airlines, ferry or bus services) and COLUMNISTS