JP Morgan: Gaming law revision may be completed only in 2022

Brokerage JP Morgan Securities has predicted that the revision of the city’s gaming laws may only be finalized a matter of months before the concessionaire contracts expire.
During the Policy Address on Monday, Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng announced that the public consultation process for the existing gaming law review will be launched in the second half of this year. The current casino agreements with Macau’s six concessionaires are due to expire in June 2022.
The SAR’s top official noted that the period of public consultation, which will be organized as part of the legislation, will entail a long process and will not be concluded this year.
Ho believes that, given the importance of the legal framework supervising casino operations, the general public needs to have a stake.
JP Morgan noted that the revised law would likely pass through the Legislative Assembly in 2021, and yet it still anticipates a possible delay in the tendering process until 2022, as “still possible in our view.”
“We wouldn’t be surprised to see the renewal [bidding] process postponed by a year or so versus the current expiry of June 2022,” wrote analysts DS Kim, Derek Choi and Jeremy An, according to a note cited by GGRAsia.
Aside from a suspected requirement that the new concessions will come with diversification written into the contracts, very little information has yet been advised by the government.
The present gaming permits of the six casino operators are able to be extended for a maximum period of five years, according to the city’s existing gaming laws. The government can decide the number of years by which the permits may be extended.
Ho Iat Seng said during this week’s Policy Address that none of the current concessions or sub-concessions would have their contracts automatically renewed in 2022.
Last year, appointed lawmaker Davis Fong stated that the new law should also more clearly address operators’ obligations to undertake corporate social responsibility, which “is the most urgent need from the public and [about which] in the old law there is no such detail.” LV