Macao Gaming Show has now been re-branded to MGS Entertainment Show – Creativity and Innovation (MGS), as it is now targeting innovation.
“It means we will have lots of new products – we would like all the companies to bring new products and new technology here; we want them to launch the products in this entertainment show,” the chairman of Macau Gaming Equipment Manufacturers Associations (MGEMA), Jay Chun, tells CLOSER.
This is the trade show's fourth edition and the first as MGS Entertainment Show – Creativity and Innovation. This year, MGS will have a floor area of over 12,000 square metres, which is the same as last year. The last edition attracted 168 exhibitors on the floor, plus representations in the separate French, Korean and Macau pavilions. Now, Mr Chun expects to have more.
This year's show will include an innovation zone, displaying “new technologies”, which is actually the big target of the event.
“Some companies told me already they will have new products there – new title slot machines, virtual reality products, even some robots; lots of new products will be launched in this show,” he mentions.
Mr Chun is also the chairman of LT Game’s Hong Kong listed company, Paradise Entertainment, and his own company will be launching new products.
“We'll have six products, including eight title slot machines – we have never been involved before in slot machines. We'll have some face recognition product and new e-table games, as well as a virtual horse racing product, which is new to the Macau market”, he says.
Apart from focusing on innovation and technology, Mr Chun highlights the Macau pavilion, featuring the local cultural and creative industries.
“For example, local filmmakers are presenting a new film there,” he says.
Actually, the non-gaming floor will be “much bigger” than last year's. “We have mini-films, fashion shows, crafts, we have the local creative industries,” he says. “We are working with the government very closely; we want to bring more elements to the [cultural and creative] industry.”
Junket reduction
The first edition of the show made the VIP promoters its focus, but the coming edition is reducing the representation of junkets.
“The VIP sector is getting less, but we still have a lot of participants, as well as visitors' attending from the VIP sector,” explains Mr Chun.
As for the gaming floor size, it should reflect a higher presence of mass gaming representation.
“Even the government is lobbying within the casinos to increase the mass gaming market,” he says, adding: “If you want to stimulate the mass market to grow, you can only do so through tables and electronic machines – you have the cap for the tables, so the only opportunity are the electronic gaming machines.”
As a result, suppliers of such products have “a very good opportunity” to sell. “Hopefully, all gaming suppliers can realise that this is very important.”
Mr Chun hopes to see innovative electronic gaming machines coming onto the market and to the show.
“We also want to bring whatever is the new technology in this event; the new technology is helping the industry to change,” he says, adding: “If you see something new, it inspires your mind.”
A major part of the show will be the MGS Summit, featuring conferences with industry leaders, academics and representatives from the government. Entitled ‘New Frontiers: Gaming’s Giant Leap Forward’, the MGS Summit aims to explore the connections between legislation, innovation and investment.
Featuring more than 15 sessions, the MGS Summit 2016 will gather together representatives from the Chinese Government, major casino and entertainment operators in Macau, Las Vegas and around the world, cultural and service industry experts, legal and international advisors, and the world’s major investment houses.
“The conference part is also very important for the industry – we'll have regulators talking about what is happening in Macau, the general situation outside Macau, as well as investment analysts discussing the industry, and some new professional gaming inventors,” he mentions.
Like last year, the show continues to count on the qualified buyers' programme, which Jay believes may “help visitors to come”. This is integrated into the Macau Economic Services Exhibition Stimulation Program, in which buyers can be subsidised in terms of travel, transport and accommodation costs.
The future for Macau
This year's edition reflects the trend in the territory. “The Chinese Government wants Macau, in the long run, to have a casino-style more like Las Vegas, in which people can have fun for half a day, without really spending millions of dollars,” he says, adding: “It's the trend, that's why we encourage the mass market.”
MGS's target customer is the integrated-resort, admits Mr Chun, explaining that it still makes sense, despite the ups and downs of gaming revenues in the territory, to organise this exhibition in Macau.
“If the integrated resort is our target customer, Macau is the only place [to hold this show]; it has the biggest number of casinos in Asia, so there is no point in moving the show somewhere else and asking all the visitors to fly somewhere else, as they're already here,” he says.
Nonetheless, alert to the situation of the gaming sector in Macau, Mr Chu says it's “very important to find the bottom line”. He believes the market will recover, even though not to the previous figures.
“If the market is dependent on VIP, there is a risk of coming down very quickly, but, if the numbers come from the mass market, then they are stable.”
Moreover, once all the construction work is finished in Cotai, he believes the market will pick up.
MGS is organised by MGEMA and supported by the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute and Macau Government Tourism Office. This year, the show will also receive support from the Central Government, serving as an advisory body.
In Brief
258 exclusions
There were 258 requests for exclusion from Macau’s casinos from January to September. According to Macau's gaming regulator, 240 applied for the self-exclusion programme, while 18 were applied for by other parties.
A warning
The President of Macau's Court of Final Appeal, Sam Hou Fai, has warned the image of Macau could be negatively affected, if crimes connected to gaming debts continue to increase. “There have been several cases where those illegally detained were found dead: this deserves special attention,” he said.
Under analysis
The Macau Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) is “currently analysing” an application from Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd to put VIP gaming tables in its Studio City property, according to the media outlet GGRAsia. “We have received Melco’s application to open new [VIP] gaming tables in Studio City and [are] currently analysing the application.”