《Asia Gaming》.pdfVIP

股票报告网整理 JPM-pp1 Asia Pacific Equity Research 06 February 2015 Asia Gaming Is China cracking down on foreign casino marketing? Our thoughts • What’s happened? 1. What’s happened in China today? The Ministry of Public Security had a press briefing today to discuss issues that harm public security in China. Gambling was one of the issues, among many others (e.g. prostitution, food safety, etc.), and the official said that the government will crack down on foreign casinos setting up offices in the mainland to attract gamblers, as well as online gambling. (Original script from a briefing link in Chinese Reuters article link). 2. What’s happened in the stock market today? Interestingly, all Macau stocks are up sharply today (+3~7%), which we think was because some investors focused only on the ‘foreign’ part of the comments and interpreted the news as ‘Chinas efforts to ring-fence gamblers within China including Macau’ . Gaming stocks in other markets didnt react much, likely because there wasnt enough time between local news reports and the market close. • How should we interpret the news? 1. Is it really necessary to read subtle nuances? First of all, it is very difficult for us to interpret whether the government meant ‘only foreign’ casinos or marketing activities by ‘casinos in general’. However, we wouldnt read too much into the nuance of the official’s comments here, because, at the end of the day, casino marketing activities – by anyone – are illegal in the mainland. If there were a crackdown, we think government would focus on the illegal activity itself, not who is doing it. 2. Sending the message, again. We understand most (if not all) casinos in the region have marketers working in China (regardless of lega