The Macau government announced today an international tender for six gaming concessions, demanding that all bidders present plans for attracting more foreign tourists to the city.
Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng listed the schedule and conditions for the tender in an executive order published in the Official Gazette (BO) this morning.
All bidders must pay a guarantee of at least 10 million patacas (US$1.24 million).
According to the order, the tender will run from tomorrow until 5:45 p.m. on September 14.
The order also said that the bidders must also prove their experience in running games of chance in casinos or similar businesses. They also shall state how to prevent illegal gaming activities in their casinos and how they intend to meet their social responsibility commitments.
The government held a special press conference this afternoon about the launch of the tender.
Secretary for Administration and Justice Andre Cheong Weng Chon said the government was determined to develop the gaming sector's non-gaming component and to attract more foreign visitors. He stressed that the government would also push the gaming concessionaires to offer more senior positions to local people.
According to Cheong, overseas bidders are welcome to submit their proposals. He also said that while the government could grant up to six concessions, this didn't mean that at the end of the bidding process it would grant six concessions.
The six concessions, which are slated to start operating on January 1 next year, have a duration of 10 years.
Macau's system of gaming concessions dates back to 1849. The concessions give the government much more leeway than conventional business licences. Gaming premises revert to the government when their operators' concessions expire.
Currently, Macau has three gaming concessionaires (SJM, Galaxy, and Wynn) and three sub-concessionaires (MGM, Sands, and Melco). The six operators have said they are planning to bid for new concessions.
Macau's new gaming industry law, which was promulgated earlier this summer, expressly bans the granting of sub-concessions. The law states that the government can grant "up to" six concessions. However, the executive order gazetted today states that the invitation to tender involves six concessions.
As of the end of June, the gaming sector consisted of 37 casinos owned by the six rival operators - 20 by SJM, five by Sands, four each by Galaxy and Melco, and two each by Wynn and MGM. The sector comprised 6,006 gaming tables and 12,042 slot machines at the end of last month, according to data from the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ).
At the end of last year, the gaming sector had 54,839 full-time employees, accounting for 14.5 percent of Macau's workforce at that time, according to the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC).
Back in 2001, when the government terminated the city's long-running gaming monopoly, 21 bidders submitted their proposals, three of which were chosen by a public tender committee. The three successful bidders were later permitted by the government to grant one gaming sub-concession each.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, mainland Chinese and Hongkongers accounted for about 70 percent and 20 percent of Macau's visitor arrivals respectively.
Caption: this photo taken earlier this week shows four of Macau's 37 casinos - (from left) Grand Lisboa, Lisboa, Wynn and MGM - Photo: Maria Cheang Ut Meng/The Macau Post Daily
