Macau’s draft gaming law has been amended to ban direct cross shareholdings in an attempt to prevent potential collusion between the operators, local media reports.
Concessionaires, or their shareholders with a more than 5 percent stake, are not permitted to hold any stock in another concessionaire, the reports said, citing Chan Chak Mo the chairman of a Legislative Assembly standing committee which is evaluating the law.
“That is, they cannot hold even one per cent directly, while indirectly they can’t hold a stake greater than five per cent. With this change, the Government can prevent the collusion of concessionaires to strengthen their competitiveness,” Chan was cited as saying in Macau Business.
The committee is nearing the end of its deliberations on the framework that will govern Macau’s casino industry in the first major overhaul since the original concession awards twenty years ago. The draft is a key piece of legislation that needs to be in place before the concession renewal process can begin.
The assembly is expected to vote on the changes later this month.
