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.
The committee is currently evaluating a new ‘Legal regime of credit concession for gambling in casinos’ that recently passed the legislature’s first reading.
TDM Radio has reported that after a committee meeting on Friday, legislator and committee chairman, Chan Chak Mo, revealed that authorities proposed significant amendments to the draft bill, suggesting that only licensed companies would be able to engage in providing credit to gamblers, while gaming intermediaries would be barred from this activity.
Under existing regulations, both gaming concessionaires and junket operators are authorized to issue credit to players, with Chan explaining that in the future, only licensed companies could lend gaming chips to gamblers.
Gaming promoters would then no longer lend chips but according to authorities would still be able to assist gaming operators in finding or accommodating gamblers, among other roles.
The government explained that these modifications aimed to promote the healthy development of the gaming industry and consider risks, hence restricting gaming promoters to auxiliary roles.
Chan also mentioned that the establishment of related agency appointment contracts and supplementary documents, as well as future amendments, would require approval from the Secretary for Economic and Financial Affairs.
The government could also demand for gaming operators to alter contract content based on principles of legality and public interest.
Chan added that authorities intend for the bill to be enforced in 2024, however, due to alterations in its clauses, a four-month period after the AL approval would be required for the law to take effect.
Both the Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lei Wai Nong, and the head of the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ), Adriano Marques Ho attended the meeting.
The changes, if effected, would be another considerable blow to already depleted Macau junket and VIP gaming promotion industry.
Under the new gaming law enforced this year, each Macau junket is permitted to partner with only single gaming concessionaire.
Junket operators can earn a commission, capped at 1.25 percent of rolling chip turnover, for their gaming promotion services but are prohibited from sharing casino revenue with the casino concessionaire they work with.
Each junket licensee is also required to provide a guarantee of MOP1.5 million ($186,000), with the highest junket commission rate being capped at 1.25 percent of the total net rolling amount. The minimum corporate capital required is MOP10 million ($1.24 million).
The Macau gaming regulator has also recently established a cap of 50 for junket licensees in 2024 and a cap of 250 junket collaborators or intermediaries.
The number of licenses junket operators in Macau has already dropped from more than 100 in pre-pandemic times to only 36 this year.
