Casinos in Hainan? Don’t bet on it, says industry guild, with cruise-based lotteries more likely
Development of Sanya as a major cruise port could be key to lotteries related to sports with ‘Hainan characteristics’
Casino industry veterans said this week that it was unlikely Beijing would allow the construction of casinos in Hainan, the island known as “China’s Hawaii”. But international waters off the Hainan coast could see the launch of new kinds of sports lotteries, they said.
Beijing announced in April it would allow horse racing and new types of sports lotteries on the southern island as part of plans to turn the province into the mainland’s biggest pilot free-trade port, leading to gains by stock in companies linked to Hainan.
But casinos were “against the overall ideology and the rules and laws of China”, Su Guojing, founder of the China Lottery Industry Salon and an industry veteran, told the South China Morning Post on the sidelines of the Global Gaming Expo Asia 2018 in Macau this week.
“It’s almost impossible for Beijing to allow the building of physical casinos. This is a separate issue compared with its opening up of lotteries,” said Su.
Also, instead of focusing on horse racing, which could take a very long time to develop, attention should be paid to Beijing’s support for turning Sanya, the province’s core tourism offering, into an international home port for cruises, said Su.