Dany Too suggests three themes for next year: countries will start “regulating” online, more mergers will follow and convergence will be the key in consolidation.
The most significant development of 2021 was the legalisation of PIGO in the Philippines, which is a significant and yet strange one at the same time.
The Philippines has been hell bent all these years to disallow locals from participating in gambling activities via the Internet. Nevertheless, when push comes to shove, people tend to conveniently forget what they initially fought for.
Three points to look out for next year:
- There will be more mergers and acquisitions – Evolution Gaming started the ball rolling and Aristocrat followed suit.
- There will be a “convergence” of the land-based and online gaming world. The big boys will likely “eat” up the smaller boys and that is not a very good thing for creativity and healthy competition.
- Many Asian countries will want to start “regulating” the online gambling industry as they want to tax more effectively and try hard not to allow the illegal online casinos to prosper.
More sophisticated payment solutions are likely to emerge as Big Brother China is cracking the whip really hard on the gambling sector. Operators and entrepreneurs tend to prosper in these sorts of conditions. They somehow thrive under pressure and many “creative” ways for payment solutions will emerge as a result.
As the adage clearly says, “There are many ways to skin a cat.”
