Spectrum Gaming Group expects that within five years the ratio of jurisdictional online gaming will increase to about 2/3rds of all online gaming. The forecast was shared at the ASEAN Gaming Summit 2022 by Spectrum’s managing director, Fredric Gushin, in his presentation on “Asia’s future online licensing landscape.”
Among other topics the advisor covers Online Gaming Policy and Economics; The Changing Landscape for Online Gaming; Models for Operations/Regulations; Key Regulatory Considerations; Beneficial Ownership; AML Issues; Asian Online Gaming; and the Philippines POGOs industry. The video coverage is tagged by chapters for your ease of reference.
This is the first of an ASEAN 2022 series, bringing you discussions around the industry’s challenges and opportunities at the in-person event. Tune in tomorrow for the discussion on Cryptocurrency.
00:00 – Intro
00:44 – Topics
01:49 – Online economics
– Worldwide estimate: $190.1B
– Asia GGR from online gaming: 14%
– Philippines GGR from online gaming: 21% (onshore)
02:37 – Two policy models
– United States, UK and many European countries.
– Malta and Philippines Model.
03:45 – Legal status
04:44 – Regulatory landscape
– Expect within five years the ratio of jurisdictional online gaming will increase to about 2/3 of all online gaming.
07:22 – Gray, gray, and gray
08:36 – What does China want
10:46 – Licensing models
– Beneficial ownership: critical to determining suitability, determination of direction and control of the entity.
12:20 – Philippines progressing
15:12 – POGO potential
17:46 – Next steps
18:49 – Q&A
Uncle Sam listening?
Cryptocurrency is another red flag and part of the reason why it was that wish to protect the anonymity of the people doing it. That automatically creates a conflict with the AML laws in any particular country, whether it be the US whether it be Europe. My personal view is digital currency is going to become the norm and perhaps 10 years. But it’s going to be done through political will. No one is going to say all the progress that’s been made on AML over the last 30 years is going to be thrown away, because that’s part of the process.
Will cash ever be gone?
I don’t know it. I don’t it’s all going to disappear. Things are changing in the gaming industry and companies will make choices. Some companies presently, in the broader grey area may choose to get licenced in some companies and there’ll be changes taking place, some countries may give them a “Grandfather Clause” in so that they’re not punished for their previous activities.
What’s grey or black?
“It’s open to a lot of interpretations. A recent study from the Hong Kong Jockey Club used under-regulated and unregulated terminology. Whatever terminology you use, it’s the same basic concepts so it depends. In New Jersey, for example they allow their licensees or the parent companies, to do business in grey areas, as long as it’s not illegal in those jurisdictions, and there’s an enforcement mechanism. There’s a lot of permutations there that will have to be sorted out going forward. We’re at the beginning, it’s like 1998 in Macau.
Cambodia
While currently on the gray list, the online industry is booming in Cambodia. Whether the country becomes an opportunity ultimately always depends on the government. “So far, the Cambodian government hasn’t demonstrated a lot of governmental will but if that changes, one way or another, then things could change positively for sure. Governmental will is the critical variable in all of these things.”
