Taxing Gambling Machines to Enhance Tourism

Gambling machines are a key component of global gambling tourism. The taxation of these machines is a highly controversial area of policy debate involving tensions between industry profitability, economic growth and government revenue. We present the background and context to the debate around the optimal taxation of gambling machines, and reach conclusions and recommendations based on the recent and extended literature as to the best way to tax gambling machines in order to enhance tourism. These recommendations provide guidance for jurisdictions in which gambling tourism is a significant actual or potential source of public revenue.

Revitalizing Keno: A Call for Pattern-Based Proposition Bets

Keno is a renowned game of chance offered by both lotteries and casinos throughout the world. The premise of the game is simple: a set of numbers is drawn at random and players are paid for selecting all or most of those numbers in advance. The mathematical foundation governing the odds and payouts for these basic wagers is elementary. More sophisticated bets, however, have associated probabilities which cannot be easily calculated by applying a manageable series of formulas. As a result, keno’s wagering menu has remained stagnant since the game’s widespread inception. Namely, proposition bets, now commonplace in virtually every other form of gaming, have never been developed for keno to any large degree. This is both unfortunate and surprising because keno is ideally suited for such an expansion. Unlike most other lottery-style games, keno highlights all drawn numbers on a rectangular grid, creating random visual patterns at the conclusion of each drawing. Creative new wagers based on these patterns are rigorously derived herein. These new additions should greatly enhance the game for both gamblers and enterprising gaming operators alike.

Macao Gaming Concession System: Present and Future Direction

Macao gaming concession is about to expire in June 2022, and such issues as the number of concessions and contract period have attracted much attention. This article introduces the evolution of Macao gaming system with emphasis on its concession duration, legal limit on the number of concessions, asset disposal and tax rate. As a result of its gaming liberalization, Macao has developed into the world’s casino capital. The gaming situation in Macao and in the gaming jurisdictions nearby is different from what it was twenty years ago. Although the current law requires a new public tender for awarding concessions, the increased number of gaming jurisdictions to target Macao would entail adjustment in its public policies to keep its gaming industry competitive. Additionally, the evolution of the relevant public policies and their interactions with touristic, infrastructural, environmental and urban planning policies would likely lead to some changes in the core of the current Macao gaming legislation. The authors indicated that the emergence of subconcessions and satellite casinos, the fractioning of spaces and utilities by different entities regarding asset reversion to the government, and the relationship between concessionaires and junket operators are some major issues, which require an improved legal framework designed to react expeditiously and effectively to the fast-moving industry for a sustained and consistent upward regulatory trajectory. Following this, revising and improving the current concession model would be crucial, even though it implies changes to the core of the current Macao gaming legislation.

On Fixing International Cricket Matches

Corruption is hidden action which distorts allocations of resources away from competitive outcomes. Hence the detection of such actions is both difficult yet important. In many economic contexts, agent actions are unobservable by principals and hence detection is difficult; sport offers a well-measured context in which individual actions are documented in great detail. In recent years the sport of cricket, which records a huge volume of statistics, has been beset by a number of corruption scandals surrounding the fixing of matches. We use 18 one day international (ODI) matches that are known to be fixed by one of the teams involved and analyse a wide range of observed statistics from all ODI matches since 1971, in order to determine whether corruption manifests itself in recorded outcomes. We find that corruption does affect a number of observed outcomes in anticipated ways, suggesting that both the increased reporting of statistics, and the statistical analysis of them may be a useful tool in detecting corruption.

A Model for Improving Guesses of Future Soccer League Game Results

In this paper we propose a model for predicting future soccer game results by using information about the results of past league games. First, from regressions we extracted the prediction confidence interval for the goal difference between the winner and the loser in each game. Second, we created an arbitrary range around zero and defined criteria for forecasting a win, a tie or a loss according to the location of the confidence interval relative to the arbitrary range we defined. Third, we gradually changed the edges of the arbitrary range and repeated the second step. Among all the arbitrary ranges, we chose the one that best predicted the match results. We found that the best arbitrary range accurately predicts 52% of the match results. Finally, we upgraded the model by allowing double chance betting, which offers gamblers five possible betting options: home team wins (1), home team wins or game ends in a tie (1 and X), away team wins (2), away team wins or game ends in a tie (2 and X), game ends in a tie (X). When double chance betting was allowed, the model accurately predicted 77% of the match results.

Mainland Chinese Casino Visitors to Macau: Linking Service, Brand Image, Satisfaction and Loyalty

Few studies have investigated the moderating influence of brand image on customer satisfaction and loyalty. The purpose of this study was to examine the link from casino service to satisfaction (affective and cognitive satisfaction) and loyalty (revisit intention and intention to recommend). The influence of brand image as a moderator was also proposed. A quantitative survey was conducted with 240 casino visitors in Macau. The findings demonstrate that cognitively and affectively satisfied customers were more inclined to revisit and recommend a casino. These relations were stronger for customers who scored higher in brand image than for those who scored lower. The moderating influence of brand image was supported for revisit intention but was not supported for recommendation. The study provides promotional marketing strategies for the casino industry and theoretical suggestions for future study.

An Assessment of the Fourteen Beneficiaries of Legalized Sports Betting and the Potential Benefits that They Derive

The 2018 ruling by the United States Supreme Court essentially legalized sports betting across the nation. Prior to that ruling, sports books were restricted by virtue of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA). But with a landmark 6-3 decision, the opportunity door for sports betting has been opened in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. This research focuses on two considerations regarding the opening of that door. Who are the potential beneficiaries, and what benefits might those beneficiaries derive? A detailed examination of the newly emerging literature identified 14 potential beneficiaries that fall within four broad categories: sports entities, traditional sources of revenue, the gaming industry, and other nonsports entities. Among these beneficiaries are the teams, organizations, fans, sponsors, bettors, the media, and society-in-general. The majority of the benefits revolve around financial considerations, but it is not always as straight-forward as cash. So, while the NBA is benefitting from a cash flow from its casino sponsor, society-in-general may benefit from enriched educational resources and a better infrastructure. This article further delineates the potential benefits for each of the 14 beneficiaries that have been identified.

Producing and Promoting the Sports Gambling Industry since the 2018 United States Supreme Court Ruling: A Review of Organizational Action through Suspense Theory

Sports gambling is a way for people to experience the emotions caused by suspense. Suspense is predicated and enhanced along the dimensions of outcome uncertainty and a rooting interest in the outcome. Suspense for a sporting event is increased through gambling by creating outcome uncertainty and a rooting interest beyond the result of an actual game. The 2018 United States Supreme Court ruling that permits states to legalize wagering on sports games altered the sports gambling industry by giving more people the ability to bet on games. Several states are facilitating sports betting by allowing wagering through online and mobile platforms. Beyond what is legally permitted, sports gambling participation is influenced by how the activity is promoted. State governments, sports leagues and teams, sports gambling operators, and media companies are all in position to capitalize economically on an increase in sports gambling, therefore, their actions in producing and promoting the sports gambling industry since the Supreme Court ruling are in need of study. The alignment of organizational action with suspense theory lends insight into what is actually occurring in the sports gambling industry and can serve to better anticipate future industry developments.

Social Casinos: Winning Isn't Everything

Are players who win more likely to be loyal to social casino games, and better customers for the social casino industry? In this research, we investigate the relationship between social casino player success and customer loyalty. We make a case that winning is not a good predictor of customer loyalty for social casino games. Our proposed theoretical model integrates loyalty and spend level with a player’s perceived level of gaming success. The unexpected diminished role of winning as a contributing factor to loyalty challenges the traditional view of thinking that success in a gambling environment is necessary to ensure valuable ongoing customer relationships. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Junket Operation: Macao’s Growing Pains or Stimulants?

Two serious junket incidents happened in Macao in 2014 and 2015 which led to the significant drop in gross gaming revenue lasting for 27 consecutive months. In this paper, we investigate the importance of junket operation towards gaming companies’ financial performance and the interaction between the performance of corporate governance and junket operation. This study uses regression analysis to examine the relationships among corporate governance, financial performance, and junket promoters in Macao’s gaming tourism industry as well as the differences between those relationships under different economic conditions. The resultsreflect that when economy is booming, the corporate governance performance of gaming operators shows a decreasing trend. Under the control of corporate governance, the gaming operators tend to cooperate with junket promoters in a positive manner. In contrast, the junket operation brings negative impact on casino incomewithout the interaction of corporate governance, especially during booming economic periods. The result is aligned with the actual commission percentage over casino revenue, corporate governance score, and EPS of gaming operators. In a gaming sector, the junket operation towards casino profit and its interaction with corporate governance still overlooked in the academic study. This study not only fills in the research gap, but also provides constructive suggestions for Macao government to optimize the gaming inspection system and the rules on junket operations.