The Legislative Assembly of Macau's approval of gaming credit legislation, which prohibits junkets from extending gaming credit, is viewed as a significant step towards aligning with public policy in China and Macau.

Macau junkets wrote a letter to the city’s Legislative Assembly to express their opposition to being banned from issuing gaming credit.

The Philippines offers an exciting landscape, as operators thrive amongst a solid regulatory framework. Lorraine Koo, Corporate Chief Operating Officer for Dowinn Group explains how the company is expanding its roots beyond a junket base into IRs, the shifting focus on clientele – from Chinese to Korean, and the company’s evolving role.

The Philippines and Vietnam remain on the Financial Action Task Force’s grey list, the only two Asian gaming jurisdictions so defined. In this week’s Under the Scope, gaming expert Ben Lee looks at the differences between each country’s strategy, the impositions they’re facing, and business and political sentiment towards their continued oversight by the financial watchdog.

Macau junkets are facing extinction as crackdowns by authorities leave the industry increasingly disillusioned and market survivors lose hope.

In a recent interview with AGB, Jeremy Douglas, Regional Representative at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) shed light on the significant findings of a report regarding the pivotal role played by casinos, cryptocurrency, and VIP junkets in fostering underground banking and crime in East and Southeast Asia.

Analysts at Maybank are predicting that 2024 will be a strong year for Bloomberry Resorts, with profit expected to rise by nearly a quarter. However, forecasts have been reduced due to a drop in gross gaming revenue, largely due to decreases in VIP and junket revenue, even though slots performed strongly.

Veteran gaming expert and consultant Niall Murray takes a deep dive into Macau's shift away from junkets and VIP, possibilities and challenges for MICE and the cancellation of Macau's horse racing concession.

In the second part of the Face to Face sit down with 2NT8 Limited’s Managing Director Alidad Tash, we delve into the shifting role of Macau's junkets, the frontloading of non-gaming spend – now upped to nearly $16 billion over 10 years, and how to align government and private-sector initiatives to benefit both. In addition, RFID tech is placing MGM China far ahead of the competition.

The Macau SAR government has proposed to completely bar junket operators from loaning money for gaming purposes, members of the Legislative Assembly Second Standing Committee recently revealed.