G2E Asia panel expects little regional economic impact from Japan IRs

Other Asian nations such as Macau, Singapore, and even South Korea have little to fear from the opening of the three Japanese IRs in the middle of next decade, according to a panel of experts speaking on the first day of the G2E Asia conference in Macau.

Speaking on a panel called "Spotlight on Japan: Economic Impacts to Other Asian Markets," Niall Murray, founder and chairman of Murray International Group, predicted that the economic damage to Singapore gaming market would be "relatively low" and the damage to the Macau market "negligible."

Even in the case of South Korea, where some observers have suggested that Japanese competition might indeed take an economic bite, Murray and the other panelists downplayed the likely impact.

David Bonnet, a managing partner at Delta State Holdings, agreed that the opening of Japanese IRs would not create any "life-threatening" competition to any other Asian nation, where the market has been so large and profitable that a certain level of economic success has proven to be the case for almost all casinos in the region.

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