世界博彩行业翻天覆地的变化(二)

  对拉斯维加斯而言,这说明赌博收入比2008年有所下降。相比之下,网络博彩业的收入在继续上升。监视全球博彩市场的咨询公司H2博彩资本(H2 Gambling Capital)估计2009年的网络博彩收入大概达到260美元。世界博彩中心不再仅仅是拉斯维加斯,澳门和摩纳哥;现在还包括奥尔德尼、直布罗陀、安提瓜岛和马耳他,这些地方有利的税收政策使得它们成为基于网络的博彩公司的诱人基地。

  由于这些公司的存在,旧的限制政策已开始崩溃。政府对网络博彩业的限制如同限制其他网络内容一样,已开始制定。对其他网络内容的限制,据说基本无效。美国依旧是目前为止世界上最大的网络博彩市场,尽管其在2006年通过了非法互联网博彩业实施法案(Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act,UIGEA)——附加一条港口安全法案,限制从金融机构向网络博彩网站转移资金。某些已成立的网站关闭其在美国的运营后,但新的公司立马填充这一空缺。美国在线赌博人数大概和2006年持平。

  赌博移至网络危及传统形式的博彩业,比如赛马,但显然对另外一些形式的赌博有利,比如老虎机和彩票。传统的实体形式的企业仍在扩张,拉斯维加斯大道新建的城中城(CityCenter),去年12月开张,占地76英亩,造价高达85亿美元,这是美国历史上私人投资数额最大的建筑项目。美国33个州有赌场(大多数是由约200个印第安部落经营的),欧洲超过20个国家也是如此。拥有拉斯维加斯和澳门的威尼斯赌场的拉斯维加斯金沙公司,今年4月在新加坡新开张滨海湾金沙赌场。金沙赌场的首席执行官谢尔登。安德尔森(Sheldon Adelson)认为亚洲可轻易容纳“五至十个拉斯维加斯”。

  过去十年,博彩业的变化甚于之前七十年。网络逼迫现有公司来适应,开拓新的机会,这从根本上改变博彩公司运营的政治、经济、企业和道德环境。这份特别报告将通过主要赌博形式来追踪这些变化。很遗憾这意味着将忽略类如赛狗,bingo,回力球和斗蟋蟀等项目,我们的报告将从曼尼梅克先生(双关语,曼尼梅克先生=赚钱人)的游戏开始。

  译文

For Las Vegas, that represents a decline in revenue from 2008. By contrast, revenues from online gambling continue to rise. H2 Gambling Capital, a consultancy that monitors the global gambling market, estimates online gambling revenues in 2009 at around $26 billion (see chart 2)。 The world’s gambling centres are no longer just Vegas, Macau and Monaco; they now also include Alderney, Gibraltar, Antigua and Malta, whose favourable tax systems make them irresistible homes for internet-based companies.

  Thanks to these companies the old restrictions have started to crumble. Government prohibition of online gambling has worked about as well as prohibition of other online content, which is to say it is observed mainly in the breach. America remains the world’s biggest single online gambling market by far, despite the passage in 2006 of the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA)—a provision tacked onto a port-security bill that prohibits the transfer of funds from a financial institution to an online gambling site. After the ban some established sites closed down their American operations, but others filled the void. Americans are gambling roughly the same amount online as they did in 2006.

  The move online threatens some traditional forms of gambling, such as betting on horses, but appears to benefit others, such as slot machines and lotteries. And bricks-and-mortar expansion still continues. The latest addition to the Las Vegas Strip, CityCenter, opened last December. Covering 76 acres (31 hectares) and costing around $8.5 billion, it is the largest privately funded construction project in American history. Thirty-three American states have casinos (many of them operated by around 200 Native American tribes), as do more than 20 countries across Europe. The Las Vegas Sands Corporation, which owns the Venetian casinos in Las Vegas and Macau, opened Marina Bay Sands in Singapore in April. Sheldon Adelson, Sands’s chief executive, believes that Asia can easily accommodate “five to ten Las Vegases”。

  In the past ten years gambling has changed more than in the previous 70. The internet has forced existing businesses to adapt, opened up new opportunities and fundamentally altered the political, economic, corporate and moral climate in which these businesses operate. This special report will trace those changes through the main forms of gambling, which sadly will mean neglecting strong but local passions such as greyhound racing, bingo, jai alai and cricket fights. It will begin with Mr Moneymaker’s game.