Good morning. The penthouse is full; the lobby is half-empty. Macau’s post-pandemic recovery may look healthy on paper, but a gaming scholar says the real momentum is increasingly concentrated at the top end of the market, where VIP and premium players are outpacing the broader mass segment. The takeaway for operators: fewer guests can still mean bigger business if the spending power is there. In India, authorities are now warning VPN providers as users continue accessing prediction markets despite a sweeping new gaming law. The Philippines, meanwhile, saw licensed casino GGR slip 9.64 percent in 1Q26 as Entertainment City weakened.
What you need to know
- Premium gaming and experiential tourism emerge as key growth drivers for Macau’s post-pandemic recovery.
- India says Kalshi and Polymarket violate new gaming law, warns VPN providers against enabling platform access.
- Philippine licensed casino GGR fell 9.64 percent year-on-year in 1Q26 as Entertainment City posted the sector’s sharpest decline.
On the radar
- Century Entertainment’s ‘new owner’ exits weeks after Ng’s return.
- Philippine gaming firm DFNN posts 48.6% revenue decline in 1Q26.
- INSPIRE turns to interns to curb fixed labor costs amid visitor surge: report.
- Malaysia warns influencers over online gambling promotions.
AGB Intelligence
MACAU
The premium tier is rewriting Asia’s gaming playbook
The post-pandemic rebound is hiding a structural shift that Asia’s IR operators can no longer ignore, Zhonglu Zeng, President of the Asia-Pacific Association for Gambling Studies, said at G2E Asia + Asian IR Expo 2026. Premium segments are driving growth in Macau, Singapore, and Cambodia, while mass market spending stagnates. The path forward, he said, lies in bespoke service, cultural interpretation of resort assets, and tapping into the silver economy and the rise of wellness.
Industry Updates
- Sands Shopping Carnival 2026 set for four-day return at Cotai Expo.
- Melco named among “Best Companies to Work” at the HR Asia Awards.
- GR8 Tech reimagines championship through a new tech-native identity.
Corporate Spotlight
How Crypto Adoption in Asia is Changing iGaming Payments
Yevhen Krazhan, CSO at GR8 Tech, explores how surging crypto adoption across Asia is revolutionizing iGaming payments, stating: “When I look at what’s changing fastest in Asia, it’s payment behavior,” as wallets, stablecoins, and seamless cross-border transfers become deeply ingrained in player habits. The winning operators will be those that offer fast, reliable, and local deposits and withdrawals. To make sense of it, Yevhen breaks Asia into two crypto realities.
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