This year’s Ubud Writers & Readers Festival in Bali runs October 18-22. This five day twentieth anniversary edition features a top drawer lineup of Indonesian and global talent.

“Over the years, our festival has cemented its reputation as a world-class event that continually presents award winning, internationally recognized authors, thinkers, and activists, along with exciting new voices from the latest literary zeitgeist to intellectual commentary and current affairs,” festival founder and director Janet de Neefe says. “This year is incredibly special as it’s our twentieth anniversary, and our 2023 program will be no less exceptional.”

International literary luminaries coming to Ubud include groundbreaking Booker Prize winner Bernardine Evaristo, additional Booker awardees Geetanjali Shree and Shehan Karunatilaka, and Pulitzer Prize winning historical novelist Geraldine Brooks.

Indonesian superstars include best selling novelists Eka Kurniawan and Dee Lestari, Laut Bercerita (The Sea Speaks His Name) author Leila S Chudori and legendary journalist and man of arts and letters Goenawan Mohamad. The program also features climate change and sustainability experts and activists working on five continents.

Back in its traditional format, the Ubud Festival remains a great opportunity to see and hear some of the world’s top writers and other creative artists up close and personal in one of the world’s most inviting destinations.

Former US diplomat and broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is Asia editor at large for iGaming Business, a longtime contributor to Forbes, columnist for Asia Times and author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about TV news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his bio, archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook, Twitter @MuhammadCohen and LinkedIn.

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Once again the world’s casino revenue leader, Macau has entered a brave new world of new properties, new policies, no large scale junkets operations and a focus on non-gaming spending.

Meanwhile June gross gaming revenue of US$1.9 billion makes the first half tally 53.6% of 2019, up from 52% through May, but still well short of the post-pandemic boom in the US, Philippines and Singapore. Macau is moving in the right direction, but still has a long way to go.

Former US diplomat and broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is editor at large for iGaming Business, a longtime contributor to Forbes, columnist for Asia Times and author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about TV news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his bio, archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook, Twitter @MuhammadCohen and LinkedIn.

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Beachfront casino hotel Imperial Pacific Palace remains unfinished in Saipan’s main tourist hub. (Company provided photo)

Imperial Pacific International’s casino in Saipan remains one of the most outrageous tales in Asia-Pacific gaming annals. Pieces of its unfinished beachfront casino hotel, closed since March 2020, are being auctioned off, but IPI’s failure still casts a giant shadow across the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a US territory in the western Pacific.

During its five-plus years of operation, mostly as a temporary casino in a shopping mall, Imperial Pacific reported larger VIP gambling volumes than top Macau casinos on a fraction of the tables.

Now, IPI only leads the casino world in uncollected debt. According to figures from the UNLV Center for Gaming Research, over the past four years, the largest casinos on the Vegas Strip averaged $2.35 million in bad debt. IPI’s annual uncollected player debt ran more than 100 times higher. Bad debt on the Strip averages 1% of gross gaming revenue; for IPI, it accounts for more than 70% of reported GGR.

IPI’s crystal dragons, measuring 60 meter and 40 tons, may be auctioned to pay its creditors. (Company provided photo)

There’s speculation as to whether IPI produced those figures as part of a scheme for money laundering, share price manipulation – IPI is listed on the Hong Kong stock market, though trading has been suspended since April last year – a ploy to sell casino sublicenses for its purported US$7 billion Saipan Strip development, or just due to rank incompetence.

At its most basic, IPI demonstrates how difficult it is to create a viable casino in a jurisdiction of fewer than 50,000 inhabitants four hours from the nearest major source markets. Yet, many in CNMI, especially among the political class that licensed IPI in defiance of public opinion and local law, want to bet on casino gambling in Saipan again.

Former US diplomat and broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is editor at large for iGaming Business, a longtime contributor to Forbes, columnist for Asia Times and author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about TV news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his bio, archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook, Twitter @MuhammadCohen and LinkedIn.

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Proposed New York City casino sites include Times Square in a renovated office building.

I visited Singapore last week for the G2E Asia gaming conference and trade show, held at Marina Bay Sands. MBS remains the most impressive and profitable casino resort on earth, symbol of a Singapore that’s grown past chewing gum bans. Crosstown rival Resorts World Sentosa draws domestic and international visitors with Universal Studios and other attractions.

Casino licenses on offer for New York City and vicinity should inspire similarly sensational integrated resorts. But the licenses will likely produce no-frills cash boxes, bringing the city more of what it doesn’t need. Without a major policy rethink, the city will be better off without them.

Former US diplomat and broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is Asia editor at large for iGaming Business, a longtime contributor to Forbes, columnist for Asia Times and author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about TV news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his bio, archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook, Twitter @MuhammadCohen and LinkedIn.

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Entertainment City market leader Solaire celebrated its 10th anniversary in March. (Company provided image)

Pagcor chairman Alejandro Tengco, the regulator in Asia’s most dynamic gaming market, wants to be a partner with the industry he oversees.

Pagcor – the government owned Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation – and its licensees generated nearly US$4 billion in gaming revenue last year. The Philippines could overtake Singapore as Asia’s second largest gaming market behind Macau with domestic economic growth and revived travel across Asia.

Solaire shopping arcade.(Company provided image)

Visitor prospects look rosy with a green light for Chinese travel to the Philippines, despite its ongoing offshore gaming licensing, a sector Tengco proposes expanding.

Former US diplomat and broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is Asia editor at large for iGaming Business, a longtime contributor to Forbes, columnist for Asia Times and author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about TV news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his bio, archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook, Twitter @MuhammadCohen and LinkedIn.

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