The Macau government announced today that from next year the total number of gaming tables run by the city's up to six concessionaires will be capped at 6,000, while their total number of slot machines will be capped at 12,000.
Both caps will take effect on January 1, 2023 when Macau's recently amended gaming law will come into force.
Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng's executive order on the caps was published in the Official Gazette (BO) of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) today.
According to Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) data, Macau's six gaming operators ran 6,006 gaming tables and 12,042 slot machines as of the end of June.
According to the amended gaming law, the government may grant up to six gaming concessions. Macau's six gaming operators (SJM, Wynn, MGM, Sands, Melco, and Galaxy) have joined the government's ongoing tender for new gaming concessions. The tender, which is open to foreign tenderers, began on July 29 and is slated to end on September 14.
Meanwhile, according to a separate executive order gazetted today, gaming tables need to generate gross receipts of at least seven million patacas (US$866,000) per year in order to remain licensed, while slot machines will have to generate gross receipts of at least 300,000 patacas per year to keep their licence. For the gaming tables and slot machines that fail to reach the minimum amounts, their operators needs to fork out the difference.
Apart from the government's up to six gaming concessions, each of the concessionaires' gaming tables and slot machines are licensed annually for an additional fee.
The gaming concessions - which give the government considerable leeway by going beyond the scope of conventional business licences - have a duration of up to 10 years that under exceptional circumstances can, however, be extended by three more years.
Macau's gaming operators pay 35 percent of their gross gaming revenue (GGR) as direct tax to the government, apart from paying a additional levy of up to five percent of their GGR into the public coffers for social, economic and cultural purposes.
At the end of June, the six rival operators owned a total of 37 casinos.
