The government has decided to abandon the idea to promote major changes to the new gaming law concerning the gaming concessionaires’ ownership, the amended version of the bill in analysis at the Second Standing Committee of the Legislative Assembly (AL) indicates.
According to the president of the Committee, lawmaker Chan Chak Mo, edits made to Number 11 of Article 17 carry a significant change, which, in general terms makes the new law step back to the current law in force.
In the first draft of the bill, the Number 11 stated, “Concessionaires, as well as shareholders with an amount equal to or greater than 5% of their share capital, cannot be directly or indirectly owners of any share capital of another gaming concessionaire for the operation of casinos in Macau Special Administrative Region”. This has now been changed to “… cannot be directly or indirectly owners of a share capital equal to or greater than 5% of another gaming concessionaire…”
If the first draft rule was maintained, it would have had severe implications for ownership of the concessionaires, particularly some of those currently operating. It is known, for instance, that Galaxy Entertainment Group holds a 4.9% stake at Wynn acquired directly from Steve Wynn back in 2018.
Similarly, co-chairperson and executive director of gaming operator MGM China Holdings Ltd (MGM), Pansy Ho is one of the highlighted figures holding a significant percentage of stakes in two operators, MGM and Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (SJM).
However, there are many others with smaller stakes who would have to make difficult decisions if the rule of the non-participation in any other concessionaire was still standing.
Questioned by the media, Chan said that this change to the bill, contrary to others, did not come from a direct suggestion or opinion from the committee members but instead resulted from “the discussion on the bill in which concerns were raised among the intervenient.”
He added that the government had initially justified the rule by the ensuring that there would be fair competition between all concessionaires, as it was feared that if stakeholders had stakes in other concessionaires, this could lead to a potential cartel position in which several concessionaires owned by the same people could play alongside to protect their own interests.
Also questioned on why the government decided to step back and withdraw this rule, Chan said that the committee should ask the government since yesterday’s meeting was only dedicated to an internal discussion among the committee, and did not count on the presence of government representatives.
During the post-meeting media briefing, Chan also noted that the meeting was held after a technical meeting between the legal advisors of both the AL and the government.
A new round of technical and committee meetings has been scheduled to take place today when the committee will advance to analysis of changes and amendments made on the second version of the bill, starting from Article 23 onwards. The new gaming law is composed of a total of 48 Articles.
