Your Daily Asia Gaming eBrief: Connectivity key for Nepal growth

Monday 7th of March 2022

Good Morning. Nepal’s nascent casino industry, like most around Asia, has been hit hard by the pandemic, but is now slowly beginning to recover. There had been reasonable foreign investor interest in the sector due to the potential exposure to the giant industry market, though the head of the country’s casino trade association says there need to be improvements in infrastructure to improve access.

What you need to know

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AGB Intelligence

DEEP DIVE

Nepal needs more flights, infrastructure, for casinos to thrive

Nepal’s casino industry is slowly reopening after the pandemic, although better infrastructure and greater flight connectivity are key for helping the industry to develop in the longer term, the head of Casino Association of Nepal says. Casinos were permitted to reopen at the end of September last year, but faced another short shut down towards the end of the year due to the spread of Omicron. “The first four-to-five months were very slow,” said Binod Shrestha, president of the Casino Association. “We were shut down for another 10 days, but have been open again now for about a month. The vaccination rate in Nepal is between 60 and 80 percent and we are seeing some movement in the casino industry.”