The gambling industry in Asia continues to grow at a rapid pace and gambling establishments are not wasting any time in expanding their presence throughout the Asia Pacific region. As many as seventeen casinos are scheduled to be opened by 2020 in the Asia Pacific region and Macau, the biggest gambling hub in the world will play host to six of these new casinos.

Three new casinos are scheduled to open in South Korea, while Russia, New Zealand, Australia and the Philippines are scheduled to open two new casinos during the next five years. Macau used to be the number one destination in Asia for gambling establishments to set up new operations but due to the recent decline in Macau’s gaming market, these gambling establishments have decided to venture into new Asia gaming markets as well.

The government in South Korea and the Philippines have friendly gambling laws that invite foreign investment and encourage gambling establishments to set up new casinos. Some of the casinos that are scheduled to be constructed during the next five years will turn out to be some of the biggest and most spectacular casinos in the world.

The biggest gambling market segment in Asia is Mainland China where there are a high number of VIP gamblers who spend large sums of money on a regular basis. These gamblers used to frequent Macau almost exclusively because of its close proximity and VIP services. Due to the recent corruption crackdown in Macau, gamblers from Mainland China have stopped frequenting Macau’s casinos as much and instead decide to venture into neighboring countries like South Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines where the gambling laws are a lot more friendly.

Even though Singapore is close to China, gamblers from Mainland China have not shown a lot of interest in visiting Singapore’s casinos and that is probably because Singapore’s gambling laws are very strict. In a statement, Paul Bromberg, CEO of Spectrum Asia, a gaming consultancy said “It is unlikely that new entrants to the casino market in Japan, Korea, Cambodia, Vietnam or the Philippines will significantly cannibalise the Singapore market. The biggest threat to Singapore would likely be if Thailand or Indonesia were to legalise gaming but that is unlikely to happen in the near term.”

Vietnam and Cambodia are also looking to invite gambling establishments to set up new casinos in their countries as they are also looking to capitalize on the Mainland China gambling market.