Gaming | Committee on track to complete law analysis before ‘deadline’

The Second Standing Committee of the Legislative Assembly (AL) has been meeting daily, aiming to finish its discussion of the new gaming law.

According to sources close to the process, the reason for this rush is related to an unwritten deadline for the discussion and final approval of the law in the AL of June this year, the Times has learned.

The same source hinted that the goal is to pass the law before the current gaming licenses expire (June 26, 2022) so that the tender to attribute the new licenses can be launched as soon as possible and completed before the end of this year.

If such a scenario becomes a reality, then the extension of the current gaming concessions would be on the line to be stretched for a much shorter period than initially expected when the Public Consultation period of the new gaming law was launched (about six months).

The goal seems to be to enter 2023 with new concessions attributed and operational.

Without going into details on this matter, the committee that is analyzing the bill also introduced, earlier this week, this idea of having the law discussion and approval concluded by June.

Yesterday, the lawmakers comprising the second committee gathered for the third time this week to discuss matters related to the perfecting of the bill.

After the meeting, and in the usual press briefing by the president of the committee, lawmaker Chan Chak Mo, it was said that after the first two meetings, in which much time was devoted to discussion of the so-called satellite casinos, the work has progressed and several articles of the law have been addressed.

Among the most heated topics, Chan said, was the law provisions that seem to state that concessionaires can only host gaming activity in premises owned by the concessionaire.

Lawmakers want to know if that is the correct interpretation and intention of the law and, if so, how this new rule might interfere in the current situation of several casinos, which are operated with the permission of the license holder, but in venues that are not owned by the concessionaire but instead by hotels and other companies.

Another of the matters that the committee intends to question the government about in an upcoming opportunity is the financial capacity of the new concessionaires, as the new law sets a new minimum ceiling of MOP5 billion of effective responsibility for the concessionaires, a very significant increase from the current one, set at MOP200 million.

On this topic, Chan said that several lawmakers representing the labor interests have also raised the creation of the guarantee fund related to salaries and benefits of the workers.

These lawmakers are worried that, in the case that one of the concessionaires loses their license, a high number of the staff members will be in a complex situation unless this type of fund is maintained and adjusted to the number of works of the concessionaires.

Chan noted that, “currently, only SJM and MGM have this mechanism of ‘guarantee of labor credit’ but we will question the government on if there is an intention of enforcing this [type of tool] for all concessions.”

Another of the law articles that warranted discussion yesterday was Article 16, related to Corporate Social Responsibility.

As the committee president noted, “this is a completely new article […] that attempts to establish responsibilities for the concessionaires to participate and support […] the development of the society at different levels including support for SMEs [Small and Medium-size Enterprises], economic diversification, training, hiring of people with disabilities and support of local activities, among others. We are already doing this to some extent, but lawmakers feel that the article is too vague, and they want these responsibilities to be clearer and more specific,” Chan said, noting that the committee will also ask the government whether or not these responsibilities will be specifically written into the concession contracts.

Yesterday’s meeting was finalized with the addressing of article 17 and, more specifically, 17A, which relates to the listing of the concessionaires in the stock exchange market and a maximum ceiling of stocks circulating of 30%, a limit the new law establishes.

Chan explained that there were several questions and clarifications about the matter, namely regarding the intentions of this provision and if it could effectively grant that continuity of the dominant stakeholders in a concession, as well as questions about the need for new stakeholders that might arise through the acquisition of stocks needed to undergo the same “reputability analysis” by the authorities.

According to Chan, the committee will likely need another two meetings to conclude the first round of the analysis and discussion on the law provisions, after which time they will likely have one or several meetings with the representatives of the government to hear the replies to the questions raised.

The next meeting of the committee is scheduled for today at 3 p.m., and a meeting with the representatives of the government has also been scheduled to take place next Tuesday (February 22).