Melco Resorts Sites Relationship With Esports As A Way To Acquire Japanese Casino License

According to a report published by a local media house, Melco Resorts has expressed its belief in the fact that its existing relationship with the Chinese market as well as the popularity of eSports could prove to be the winning formula for acquiring the Japanese casino license.

 

Melco Resorts & Entertainment further reiterated that having an eSports stadium will play a vital role in securing a strong point for securing a casino license in Japan. The aforementioned statement was made by the Chief Financial Officer of the highly popular hospitality and gaming company, Geoffrey Davis to the leading business news agency Nikkei Asian Review.

 

The company had taken the massive plunge into the burgeoning market of eSports early this year by opening the doors of its first ever eSports venue. The aforementioned venue called the Macau Stadium is situated at Melco’s Studio City property which can be found on the Cotai Strip in Macau. The Macau Stadium is a massive arena with around 274 seats and is a first-of-its-kind venue to have entered Macau, which is also the world’s most celebrated and largest gambling hub. The Macau Stadium is slated to host some of the most popular eSports tournaments as well as virtual gaming leagues and will also live-stream major gaming events that are being organized elsewhere in the world.

 

With a number of leading gaming and hospitality facilities in Philippines and Macau and one project underway in the Republic of Cyprus, Melco Resorts is now contemplating penetration in the Japanese market. Japan had permitted Las Vegas-style gambling back in 2016 and is now involved with building the said casino industry from scratch.

 

In his statement to the Nikkei Asian Review, Davis remarked that it is possible that their new eSports stadium will prove to be one of the key deciding factors for acquiring a license for an integrated casino resort in Japan. He further stressed that the content offered by eSports for the Japanese audience would become very advanced and diverse by the time the integrated resorts open for business. As such, this will probably attract new customers to the integrated resort and in turn help boost revenues generated by the casino industry in Japan. However, all of this will only be possible in case Melco Resorts and Entertainment is able to acquire at least one of the three casino licenses to be issued by the government in Japan.