29 Macau casinos to reopen at midnight

Twenty-nine Macau casinos will reopen at midnight, the government confirmed earlier, while a further 12 will make use of the extension period offered by the Secretary for Economy and Finance earlier this week.

According to information disclosed during today’s press conference, the 10 operating casinos that will not reopen are Oceanus, Regency, Macau Jockey Club (Roosevelt), Sands Cotai Central, Waldo, Rio, President, Altira, Oriental at Grand Lapa and Grand Dragon. Two other casinos, the Macau Palace and Greek Mythology, were formerly closed and will remain so.

Most of these properties manage so-called “satellite casinos”, meaning that they rely on one of the six concessionaires to operate, mostly Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (SJM).

Moreover, about 1,800 gaming tables, less than 30% of the territory’s total, will be reopened to the public, according to the director of the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, Paulo Martins Chan. This implies that many casinos to reopen at midnight will not operate at full capacity.

Earlier this week, Secretary for Economy and Finance Lei Wai Nong confirmed that an Executive Order issued by the Chief Executive to mandatorily close casinos for an unprecedented 15-day period would indeed expire on Thursday midnight. However, casino operators could apply for an extension of up to 30 days, during which time they would not be required to operate fully or at all.

“The gaming law says that Macau is an area of continuous gaming and that casinos should operate every day of the year. Casinos can only suspend operations under exceptional circumstances and with the permission of the government,” said Carlos Coelho, a Macau-based lawyer who provides corporate and regulatory assistance to casino operators.

However, “the government is now saying that the current conditions should be considered as ‘exceptional circumstances’ and so it will grant this exemption period of up to 30 days to those casinos which apply [for inclusion].”

Statements yesterday from five of Macau’s six casino concessionaires indicated that gambling activity would resume in a “phased approach” starting from tomorrow. The operators declined to state in clear terms whether they would apply for the extension.

The latest information suggests that most of the casinos directly operated by the concessionaires have not applied for the extension period. Nevertheless, the operators intend to ramp up their gambling operations only according to “market conditions”.

Regarding the ability of casinos to partially resume operations, for example by operating only a portion of their available gaming tables, Coelho said, “there is nothing in the law on this matter.”