Gaming | No break for junkets as Dore investors protest Wynn again

Former Dore investors have once again taken to protesting outside Wynn Macau, demanding the return of their investments in the junket operator, after Dore reported an alleged internal theft of at least HKD300 million in September.
A Business Insider report suggests that the Dore group is unlikely to be in a position to return the money – even if required to – amid the industry-wide collapse of the VIP gaming segment and ensuing closures of junket operators that has followed.
Last year 16 percent of all junkets in Macau closed down, according to the report.
The VIP segment once made up a significant majority of gaming revenues, but has been hit hard by President Xi’s anti-corruption campaign, which has taken the form of an increase in government monitoring and oversight in the industry.
As the pressures on the VIP sector continue to mount, traditional junket operators have found that loans used to shore up betting are not being repaid in full.
As the Times reported on Friday, junket operators are having problems collecting on their debts. Kwok Chi Chung, the president of Macau’s Association of Gaming & Entertainment Promoters, said that only 20–30 percent of their junkets’ loans are being repaid.
“Getting the money back is a bigger challenge now for junkets than before,” Kwok told Bloomberg. “With a longer payback period, junkets have less money to lend to new customers, and the business is shrinking accordingly.”
As junket confidence in the ability or willingness of high-
rollers to repay operators plummets, significant changes to the junket system are under consideration.
According to the Business Insider report, a more cautious industry that is less eager to lend could spell the end of VIP gaming by denying VIPs access to the amount of money required for this sort of gaming. Staff reporter