Watch: Shaun McCamley explores Southeast Asia gaming shift
Shaun McCamley, Founder and Managing Partner at Euro Pacific Asia Consulting, sits down with SiGMA TV in his latest interview during the recent SiGMA Asia 2025 to explain why the gaming landscape across Southeast Asia is changing fast and how operators can keep pace. Drawing on more than forty years in 바카라s and online play, McCamley details the commercial pressures facing land-based venues, the surge of e-gaming and social platforms, and the regulatory currents that shape both.?
Speaking openly, he argues that properties in markets such as the Philippines now stand at a crossroads: profits from traditional VIP junkets are shrinking, yet mobile-driven audiences are spending freely online. To stay competitive, he says, operators must adopt innovative digital strategies while upholding strict responsible gaming safeguards, or risk being left behind by more agile rivals.
Digital realities for land-based 바카라s
McCamleys starting point is frank. Philippine venues have lost critical VIP income after junket activity was curtailed and travel from mainland China fell away, placing a lot of pressure on revenue targets. The governments decision to ban rogue POGO operations removed another stream of footfall but, in his view, was necessary to curb trafficking and non-compliance.
This contraction is set against an online surge: PAGCOR reported last month that e-gaming revenue surpassed land-based revenue for the first time. Yet McCamley warns that 바카라 executives cannot assume skills will transfer. The actual operation and strategic planning of an online business is completely different, he notes, adding that many bricks-and-mortar owners are set up to fail until they rethink digital strategy from the ground up.?
His consultancy now focuses on helping boards refine those plans, moving capital into regulated online channels that complement, rather than cannibalise, existing floors.
Crucially, he plays down geopolitical turbulence as a short-term revenue factor. Visitation patterns, not tariffs, dictate the bottom line, he argues, and the immediate task is to capture players where they already spend time: on their phones.
Social gaming
For McCamley, social gaming offers the clearest route to that mobile audience. He calls it the fastest growing vertical in Southeast Asia, driven by a youthful demographic, near-universal smartphone ownership, and low-cost in-app purchases. Unlike sweepstakes or real-money sites, pure social platforms need no gambling license in the Philippines, lowering barriers to entry.
The financial scale surprises many. Leading apps can generate up to 600 million dollars a month, he says, while less than 0.1 per cent of free-to-play users ever convert to cash wagering. He cites Caesars purchase of the social platform 바카라tika for 92 million dollars and its later sale for 4.1 billion dollars to underline the value of well-run ecosystems. 바카라ers willingly spend hundreds of euros a month on entertainment, not winnings, enticed by missions and leader boards that build community.
That popularity brings responsibility. McCamley champions safeguards against addiction and underage use, calling control measures nearly impossible but no less essential. He works with a foundation that supports problem players and urges operators entering social gaming to embed protective tools from day one. In emerging jurisdictions such as East Timor and India, credibility will hinge on such standards as much as on licensing and tax.
