The public tender for Macau’s six gaming concessions will begin on Friday and run through to Sept. 14, with all bidders required to pay a minimum MOP10 million ($1.2 million) deposit.
The rules for the public tender were outlined in Executive Order 136/2022, which was published today in the Macao SAR Gazette. The Executive Order comes into effect on the day after its publication.
Companies planning to participate in the tender must submit their respective bid before 5.45pm on 14 September 2022 (Beijing Time). The companies must submit all required qualification documents as well as their respective bid proposal, the government said.
The committee overseeing the process will be considering the bidders’ ability to draw in tourists from markets outside Mainland China as part of the evaluation. They will also take into account experience in running casinos, plans for investment in local gaming and non-gaming projects, as will as how it will monitor and prevent illegal activities.
The government announced its tender guidelines in early July for the new concessions, which will have a 10-year maturity. It has stressed that it sees the process as an international tender and not a straight forward renewal process. Although there are only six licenses that can be granted according to the recently approved amendments to the gaming law, the government will be able to solicit up to eight tenders.
That said, analysts at J.P. Morgan said they still expected that the six incumbent operators in Macau will emerge as the victors for the new licenses.
“From what we understand, the final details & specifics (e.g. size of investment commitment, concession premium, possible lease fee for reverted gaming assets, etc) can then be fine-tuned during the negotiation phase, after which (formal) concessions can be awarded to six concessionaires with official contract signing.”
J.P. Morgan said it expects the concessions to be awarded by end-November.
