‘Junket bill’ to allow concessionaires to hire services of several gaming promoters

The analysis and discussion on the so-called “junkets bill”, which is part of the new gaming industry regulations to enter into force from next January 1, 2023, should come to a close today when the second standing committee of the Legislative Assembly (AL) will gather to pronounce on the final articles of the bill, the president of the committee, lawmaker Chan Chak Mo, announced yesterday after another committee meeting.

“Tomorrow we should be finishing this discussion of the last few articles. After this the legal advisories [of the AL and government] will continue to gather to discuss some final technical matters,” Chan said noting that in what concerns the committee the analysis of the bill is practically done and almost ready to be presented to the plenary for its final reading.

The committee has been addressing an alternative version of the bill, presented by the government and which proposes some changes and clarification on a matter raised by the lawmakers from the initial version.

For Chan, the new version presents “no big issues,” he said, noting that, “the government introduced in this new version some improvements that satisfy the committee members.”

Nonetheless, commenting on the topics in discussion during yesterday’s meeting, Chan said that the meeting, which included representatives from the government, was mostly dedicated to presenting some possible scenarios to the government so that the lawmakers could understand in practical terms how cases would be solved in the future after the law is in force.

One of the most significant clarifications has to do with contracts, and the relationship between the gaming promoters (junkets) and the gaming concessionaires.

As the committee president clarified, each gaming promoter can work for only one concessionaire at a time, but concessionaires can hire the services of several gaming promoters at the same time.

After the last meeting on Friday, it was revealed that concessionaires would be able to take deposits from patrons as long as the purpose is solely for gaming and there are no financial compensations involved.  

Chan added yesterday that it is now also clear that junket staff, in the fulfillment of their working duties, can provide help to casino patrons, such as depositing or withdrawing funds from these concessionaires’ accounts as well as exchanging chips and other tasks, as long as that patron has previously legally authorized this person to operate their account.

“This is possible and is admissible by the law without breaching the provisions that constitute illegal acceptance of money or other incentives,” Chan explained.

“Last week, we thought that it needed to be the player in person operating the account with the concessionaire, but after a careful reading today with government representatives we understand that the player [patron] can request help from someone else. He can delegate powers or even appoint a representative to use this account with the concessionaire,” Chan clarified.

According to the same lawmaker, what is defined clearly is what is legal as opposed to what is not in terms of the acceptance of funds by the concessionaires, their staff or others legally authorized, which is the purpose of such funds.

“We should not mix things between funds for gaming and other fund deposits. To accept funds in a concessionaire account for gaming is different from illegal acceptance that constitutes a crime. This is just a service from the concessionaire to help the patrons, otherwise, every time they want to have a break from their gaming to go to dinner, for instance, they would have to withdraw all their money and carry it with them.”

For Chan and according to the discussion between the lawmakers and the government, as long as the service provided is to hold the funds from the patrons without offering interest, it does not constitute a crime.

He noted as an example, this is different from many cases in the past when VIP rooms advertised and collected funds from people as an investment. This would now be illegal, and “it is punishable with prison of between two to five years if there are no other laws breached with a heavier sentence,” he remarked.

Tips are not commissions

Questioned by the media on the possibility of the staff from junkets receiving tips from casino patrons, Chan explained that while the commissions to be paid to the junkets for their service are well regulated by the new law and must abide by the contract with the concessionaire that is subject to approval by the Chief Executive (CE), there is no reference made to tips. This implied that it is perfectly legal for public relations staff from junkets or concessionaires to receive tips from casino patrons, he suggested.

To the question of how much was too much for a tip, Chan refused to comment, stating that there are no fixed limits or ceilings besides “reasonableness.”

Junkets number 

depending on 

industry performance

To another media inquiry on the maximum number of junkets to be authorized in the future, the president of the second standing committee explained that this figure will be defined according to government policies for the sector, which will take into account the overall performance of the industry as well as the size of each concessionaire.

“If the concessionaire is very big, the government can authorize more junkets to operate within this concessionaire,” Chan said noting that all the criteria were well-defined on the bill.

According to Article 18, this number is fixed yearly by the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau which should publish until November 30 the ceiling of the number of junkets with which each concessionaire will be able to establish contracts for the following year.

As previously announced, all new contracts, contract cancelation, and change of concessionaire are under the direct supervision of the CE, while changes in the content of contracts, while they are being enforced, will be supervised by the Secretary for Economy and Finance.

Although the final date for the signing of the legal opinion from the committee, as well as for the scheduling for the final reading, are not yet known, it is likely this will happen in the upcoming two weeks.

If so, this legal proceedings which was specially extended until the end of this month will be concluded before the end of this legislative year.