The government unsealed on Friday the seven submitted bids for its upcoming granting of up to six gaming concessions, and all of them were accepted.
A government committee started to unseal the seven bids at 10 a.m. during Friday’s session, and completed the process at 6:40 p.m., the Government Information Bureau (GCS) said in a statement on Friday night.
A total of seven companies had submitted their respective bids for the granting of up to six gaming concessions before the public tender’s submission deadline at 5:45 p.m. on Wednesday last week, comprising the city’s current six gaming operators and a newcomer.
The newcomer is GMM Limited, which is linked to Malaysia’s Genting Group.
The up to six concessions, which are slated to start operating on January 1 next year, will have a duration of 10 years.
Currently, Macau’s gaming industry comprises three concessions (SJM, Galaxy, and Wynn) and three sub-concessions (MGM, Sands, and Melco). The three concessionaires sold one sub-concession each.
Macau’s new gaming industry law, which was promulgated earlier this year, expressly bans the granting of sub-concessions.
The new gaming law stipulates that the government can grant up to six gaming concessions by public and open tender for 10 years, with a possible extension of up to three years in exceptional circumstances.
Macau’s current three gaming concessions and three sub-concessions will expire on December 31.
The Macau government launched its international tender for up to six gaming concessions, on July 29.
The Macau government set up a nine-member committee on July 27 to oversee the bidding process for the granting of future gaming concessions.
Members of the committee include three of the Macau Special Administrative Region’s (MSAR) five policy secretaries: Secretary for Administration and Justice André Cheong Weng Chon, Secretary for Economy and Finance Lei Wai Nong, and Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U. The committee is headed by Cheong.
Friday’s GCS statement said that the committee, officially known as the Gaming Concession Public Tender Committee, started to unseal the seven submitted bids at 10 a.m. on Friday, when the committee’s members, a representative from the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), and representatives from the seven bidders attended the session at the committee’s office, which is located on the 21st floor of China Plaza in Nam Van.
According to Friday’s GCS statement, the committee unsealed the seven bids, by order of their respective submission times, namely, Wynn Resorts (Macau) Limited; Venetian Macau Limited; Melco Resorts (Macau) Limited; SJM Resorts, Limited; MGM Grand Paradise Limited; Galaxy Casino Company Limited; and GMM Limited.
Venetian Macau Limited is a company registered in Macau that runs Sands China casinos here.
The statement said that the committee completed its process to unseal all seven bids at 6:40 p.m. the same day.
Newcomer’s bid ‘conditionally’ accepted
After examining and reviewing the seven bids, according to Friday’s GCS statement, the committee decided to accept all of the current six gaming operators’ respective bids, while the GMM bid has, however, been “conditionally” accepted.
Nevertheless, the statement did not mention what GMM Limited will need to do in order for its bid to be finally accepted.
Representatives from Wynn Resorts (Macau) Limited submitted the company’s bid on Tuesday last week, while representatives from the other six bidders submitted their respective bids the next day, the last day of the tender’s submission deadline.
Friday’s GCS statement underlined that the Gaming Concession Public Tender Committee will assess the submitted bids in compliance with the respective laws and regulations as well as the requirements listed in the government’s regulation governing its assessments of bids for future gaming concessions. According to the statement, the government’s upcoming assessments will also include discussions and consultations with the accepted bidders.
Speaking to reporters on Friday morning before the session, Cheong said that for the time being the government did not have a timetable as to when it would complete assessing the accepted bids, but he underlined that the government will complete its process to grant the new gaming concessions by the end of this year.
