{"id":314512,"date":"2024-03-18T19:42:04","date_gmt":"2024-03-19T00:42:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=314512"},"modified":"2024-03-19T10:32:34","modified_gmt":"2024-03-19T15:32:34","slug":"mgm-says-macau-foreigner-only-gaming-zone-plan-was-a-clunker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mgm-says-macau-foreigner-only-gaming-zone-plan-was-a-clunker\/","title":{"rendered":"MGM Resorts Says Macau\u2019s Foreigner-Only Gaming Zone Plan Was a Clunker"},"content":{"rendered":"

Efforts to introduce foreigner-only gaming zones<\/a> at Macau casinos have fallen flat with international gamblers, according to MGM Resorts CEO and president Bill Hornbuckle.<\/p>\n

\"Bill
MGM CEO and President Bill Hornbuckle, above, says RFID systems are the best way to track the gambling habits of foreign tourists, and this is why Macau casino operators are adopting the technology. (Image: Bloomberg<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As first reported by Inside Asian Gaming<\/em>, Hornbuckle said the experiment, which was encouraged by Macau\u2019s government in December 2022, simply didn\u2019t work. The MGM Resorts boss was speaking Friday at the JP Morgan Gaming, Lodging, Restaurant & Leisure Management Access Forum in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

\n

The zoning system was part of Macau\u2019s push to increase the number of foreign tourists in the gambling hub, as opposed to visitors from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

At the time, Macau was entering its first retendering process for casino licensees, which was an opportunity to overhaul its gaming regulations for the first time in 20 years.<\/p>\n

\u2018They Didn\u2019t Like It\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It was hoped the introduction of foreigner-only gaming zones would aid the implementation of a new tax system. Operators now receive a waiver of up to 5% of the 40% the government collects on gross gaming revenues for attracting a quota of foreign visitors.<\/p>\n

Special gaming chips within the zones would allow auditors to track the amount of money being gambled by foreign visitors. That was the plan, at least.<\/p>\n

\n

Foreign visitors to Macau didn\u2019t bite, according to Hornbuckle. The zones weren’t compulsory, meaning that overseas visitors could gamble on the main gaming floor if they wished. It was up to operators to encourage them to use the zones.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWhen the new regs came out and the marketplace was asking for international business outside of Greater China \u2026 the only way to track that effectively, because it was a different tax bracket, was to put [foreign visitors] in independent private rooms. That means everyone from Thailand has to go over to a little room and gamble,\u201d Hornbuckle explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey didn\u2019t like it,\u201d he said, adding that no one wants to be \u201cisolated and told where to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

RFID is the Answer<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Hornbuckle said MGM\u2019s decision to invest in radio-frequency identification<\/a> (RFID) chip technology for its Macau properties meant that foreign players\u2019 chips could still be tracked without the need to segregate players.<\/p>\n

This is, in part, why Galaxy Entertainment and Melco Resorts & Entertainment have recently announced they intend to introduce RFID technology to their table games.<\/p>\n

\n

In prepandemic 2019, 91% of visitors to Macau were from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Just 3.58% of gaming revenues in the casino hub were estimated to have been generated by foreign tourists.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

China\u2019s government has long requested that Macau diversify its tourism sector by attracting foreign visitors and building more nongambling amenities. Operators were required to pledge billions toward this vision as a condition of their new licenses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Efforts to introduce foreigner-only gaming zones at Macau casinos have fallen flat with international gamblers, according to MGM Resorts CEO and president Bill Hornbuckle. As first reported by Inside Asian Gaming, Hornbuckle said the experiment, which was encouraged by Macau\u2019s government in December 2022, simply didn\u2019t work. The MGM Resorts boss was speaking Friday at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":314513,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69069,61,13592],"tags":[86966,90258,84067,51,82024],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMGM Says Macau Foreigner-Only Gaming Zone Plan Was a Clunker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"MGM Resorts\u2019 Bill Hornbuckle says that foreigner-only gaming zones were a failed experiment and RFID chips were the answer.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mgm-says-macau-foreigner-only-gaming-zone-plan-was-a-clunker\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MGM Says Macau Foreigner-Only Gaming Zone Plan Was a Clunker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"MGM Resorts\u2019 Bill Hornbuckle says that foreigner-only gaming zones were a failed experiment and RFID chips were the answer.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mgm-says-macau-foreigner-only-gaming-zone-plan-was-a-clunker\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-19T00:42:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-03-19T15:32:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Horn.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"986\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mgm-says-macau-foreigner-only-gaming-zone-plan-was-a-clunker\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mgm-says-macau-foreigner-only-gaming-zone-plan-was-a-clunker\/\",\"name\":\"MGM Says Macau Foreigner-Only Gaming Zone Plan Was a Clunker\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mgm-says-macau-foreigner-only-gaming-zone-plan-was-a-clunker\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mgm-says-macau-foreigner-only-gaming-zone-plan-was-a-clunker\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Horn.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-19T00:42:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-19T15:32:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"MGM Resorts\u2019 Bill Hornbuckle says that foreigner-only gaming zones were a failed experiment and RFID chips were the answer.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mgm-says-macau-foreigner-only-gaming-zone-plan-was-a-clunker\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mgm-says-macau-foreigner-only-gaming-zone-plan-was-a-clunker\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mgm-says-macau-foreigner-only-gaming-zone-plan-was-a-clunker\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Horn.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Horn.jpg\",\"width\":1400,\"height\":986,\"caption\":\"MGM CEO and president Bill Hornbuckle, above, says RFID systems are the best way to track the gambling habits of foreign tourists, and this is why Macau casino operators are adopting the technology. 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