Cyber criminals are reaping in illicit money by increasing lockdown and ransomware attacks as businesses changed the way people work remotely as a result of the pandemic, an expert told AGB.

Philippine Inland Gaming Operators (PIGOs) are still fighting to gain higher market share, as illegal operators steal away potential clientele, with licensed PIGOs urging regulators to take a hardline not only on the illegal operations themselves, but also those facilitating them.

The possibility of "regulated online casinos in Japan is still very far away”, says the general manager of Japan-based gaming firm Bay City Ventures.

Solaire Resort operator Bloomberry Resorts has informed investors that it has terminated its plans for a proposed investment in Cebu – namely the Emerald Bay Project ‘after considering the results of due diligence on the target companies and the projects’.

Thailand is currently looking at allowing three tiers of casinos, as it evaluates whether or not to allowing legal gambling within the country, notes gaming expert Daniel Cheng.

Michael Charlton, Asia Pacific Director for Entain, says that there are fascinating markets in Asia for sports betting as countries move out of the black and grey space and into a more highly-regulated environment which can attract bigger, established companies.

While Macau is expected to roar back to success, in order to fully achieve its goals it needs improvements to its infrastructure and labor policies, as well as an increase in hotel room numbers, experts pointed out at the ASEAN Gaming Summit.

Increased scrutiny on Macau's operations and the crackdown on its junkets are actually gains for other regional operators, say executives from INSPIRE Entertainment Resort and Hoiana Resort and Golf.

Ramon Garcia, the Chairman and Founder of Philippine-based DFNN, says that the Philippines is one of the most “innovative, responsive, gaming environments”, highlighting the flexibility of the government to allow interactive gaming during the pandemic period.

Gamblers who are taking advantage of open source or relatively cheap-to-acquire Artificial Intelligence resources could be gaining a massive upper hand over operators.