LONDON, August 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --



Online and offline gaming in the Asia-Pacific region is rapidly outpacing

that of Europe

According to Gaming Club [http://www.gamingclub.com ], Asia is the driving force in the online and offline gaming market. As the outlook in Europe continues to deteriorate, having a knock-on effect on markets around the world, particularly those trading with the European region, most commentators predicted a sharp drop in gaming profits. Whilst this is certainly the case in Europe with a contraction of 7.2% in 2010, it is not true for Asia.

The Asia-Pacific market grew by 49.7% in 2010 according to PwC. A further rise of close to 40% was enjoyed in 2011. PwC also predicts the gaming market in Asia-Pacific will outsize the next largest by at least three percentage points, taking the world's biggest share of the gaming pie.

However, gambling in Asia is almost solely fuelled by land-based casino resorts. Online gambling is illegal is most Asian countries, except the Philippines where it was legalised in 2000. However, with the deepening economic climate, governments around the world are looking at ways to boost tax revenues and legalising online gambling - which is played profusely anyway. This would generate much-needed tax dollars. Additionally, the proliferation of social networks is boosting online gaming, making it easier to play and harder to monitor and enforce laws.

More and more casinos are being built in Macau, China's equivalent of Las Vegas. As greater sums of money are poured into the region, more casinos are being built. This obviously has a cyclical effect on the wealth of the region, which is in turn being used to fund more casino developments.

Aside from Macau, Singapore is another major land-based casino region operating in Asia-Pacific. South of China and Singapore, Australia is also enjoying a boost in gaming revenues. Online poker is leading the way Down Under, accounting for around 60% of the country's total gaming revenues in 2012 according to Gaming Club.

As Europe's problems look far from over, Asia Pacific should have no problem becoming the global leader in both offline and online gaming.

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