China exerts its influence and powers around the globe. This encompasses not just what occurs within China's borders, but also the policies affecting its citizens as Chinese firms create a worldwide footprint in the same way.

Gambling is seen as less than favorable in the eye of Xi Jinping, president of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party. Xi maintains that gambling disrupts the social balance and harmony of the Chinese culture. This can be seen over the years in policy decisions to limit access to Macau, or Beijing’s policies toward other countries that may feature online gambling operations, an activity that is banned by the Chinese central government.

The Policy Strategy

The most notable uses of China’s influence have been through two policies that have held for the better part of the last decade. The first of these includes the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) or One Belt, One Road. These policies have allowed the PRC to exert its influence in parts of the world to “invest” in infrastructure including but not limited to roads, seaports, airports, telecommunications, and other forms of transport and technology.

As it was originally announced, it was designed in “a bid to enhance regional connectivity and embrace a brighter future.” This enabled China to exert its initial influence and build dependence among some countries with additional infrastructure investment that came with many strings attached.

The second major initiative is One Country, Two Systems. The original concept of this initiative was that while China and its two Special Administrative Regions (SARs) in Macau and Hong Kong would share the same country of origin, they would operate under two different systems. Macau continues to see heavy influence from Beijing, having always been the more closely tied of the two administrative regions.

The Economy

Prior to the pandemic, many of the emerging gaming jurisdictions around the world were dependent on Chinese guests for tourism and, in turn, gaming dollars. This was not just focused on the immediate region in Asia. However, as developers would look at jurisdictions around the globe, jurisdictions in the immediate Southeast Asia region had become dependent upon the flow of Chinese tourists to the area and the gaming dollars that have been associated with some of their travels.

With the story continuing to unravel and reveal the nature of high-end play through Crown in Australia, the dominance of, and in some cases the dependence on Chinese play can be significant. The junkets that have operated in key gaming markets throughout the Asia-Pacific region, including Australia, had served as a solid pre-pandemic revenue source for these casinos but also as a sore spot for the Chinese government. With gaming being viewed as harmful to the balance of Chinese society, Australia and other markets will face a number of hurdles to bring these tourists back from China into their respective markets.