InterGaming explores the world’s fastest growing gaming market
The gaming market in the Asian region is among the most vibrant and developing segments of the global market. It is also the fastest growing, with analysts predicting that as the global market experiences compound annual revenue growth of around nine per cent over the next three years, Asia will enjoy growth of double that. By 2015, Asia Pacific (including Australia and New Zealand) is anticipated to have become the largest regional market in the world, overtaking the US.
Fueling this rapid development are the strengthening Asian economies, the emergence of China’s middle class and the adoption of new policies towards gaming by governments. As one analyst put it, revenues in Singapore, for example, have gone from zero to $4bn in just three years.
“The Asian markets are the fastest growing markets in the world, with multiple developments not just in Macau but in the Philippines and other regions, many of which have indicated they want to have 10 per cent of the global gaming market in the next 10 years,” said Andrew Hely, vice president of Asia Pacific at IGT, a company that recently conducted what it describes as the most extensive player preferences surveys ever in the Asian markets.
“Asia Pacific is one of the world’s great markets for casino gaming, as well as one of the most progressive,” said Orrin Edidin, president of WMS. His company has established a solid presence in the region over the past 10 years and continues to make progress.
“The region’s dramatic growth, estimated to be a nearly 20 per cent increase each year through 2015 by PricewaterhouseCoopers in their 2011 Global Gaming Outlook report, offers many opportunities for casino manufacturers. It should come as no surprise that Asia Pacific is an important part of the WMS growth strategy, now and in the future,” he added.
This feature can be read in full in the May 2012 issue of InterGaming magazine
