The local government announced on Saturday that Macau’s incumbent six gaming operators’ bids for six new concessions have been provisionally accepted.
The government published a list of the winners of its international tender for up to six gaming concessions on Saturday morning. The six successful bidders were ranked in line with the marks they were given by the government’s bidding committee: 1) MGM Grand Paradise S.A.; 2) Galaxy Casino, S.A.; 3) Venetian Macau, S.A.; 4) Melco Resorts (Macau) S.A.; 5) Wynn Resorts (Macau) S.A.; and 6) SJM Resorts, S.A.
“S.A.” is the Portuguese abbreviation for Public Limited Company (PLC).
The government made the announcement in an executive order published in the Official Gazette (BO) on Saturday morning. The order was signed by Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng on Friday.
Details of the government’s bidding process were announced during a 50-minute press conference at Government Headquarters on Saturday morning. The presser was attended by three of the government’s five policy secretaries – Secretary for Administration and Justice André Cheong Weng Chon, Secretary for Economy and Finance Lei Wei Nong and Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U, as well as Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) Director Adriano Marques Ho. They are members of the government’s nine-member bidding committee.
Cheong pointed out that the gaming companies whose bids were accepted by the government were listed according to the ranking of their bids, based on the bidding committee’s assessment of their proposals.
Accordingly, MGM Grand Paradise’s bid was ranked the best, while SJM Resorts finished last among the six successful bidders. SJM is Macau’s oldest existing casino company.
The seventh bidder, GMM, a local subsidiary of Malaysian gaming giant Genting and aspiring newcomer to the local gaming industry, failed in its bid.
However, Cheong stressed that GMM, whose bid was awarded the lowest mark by the bidding committee, played a “positive” role in the bidding process.
“GMM representatives had fully attended all meetings with the bidding committee,” Cheong said.
Cheong stressed that the bidders were required to meet three basic conditions – to “guarantee” the employment of local staff; broaden the source markets of Macau’s foreign visitors; and offer more non-gaming attractions.
Cheong said that the government will negotiate the details of the six current operators’ new gaming concession agreements until the end of the year so that the new concessions can, as scheduled, get off the ground on January 1 next year.
Cheong said that the local government was optimistic that that the COVID-19 pandemic would end so that the six gaming operators could return to “normality” before long.
“The local government believes that the COVID-19 pandemic is just a temporary issue, and effective means to tackle it will eventually come up,” Cheong said.
While the government said during the bidding process, which began on July 29, that Macau’s gaming operators would be offered fiscal advantages for attracting more foreign tourists, since early 2020 foreign tourists have generally been barred from entering Macau, due to the government’s COVID-19 control and prevention measures.
Mainland Chinese, Hongkongers and Taiwanese – who are considered compatriots in Macau – accounted for about 90 percent of Macau’s visitor arrivals even before Macau confirmed its first COVID-19 cases in January 2020.
Cheong also said that the government had held five meetings with the seven bidders over the past few weeks. Asked by a reporter whether the successful bidders were, according to previous media reports, required to invest 100 billion patacas each over the next 10 years, Cheong said he would not answer “hypothetical questions”.
Asked by a journalist, Cheong insisted that Macau’s “satellite casinos” and gaming junkets were “not forbidden” by Macau’s amended gaming law. A “satellite casino” is run by a third party in cooperation with a gaming concessionaire. A junket assists a concessionaire in its gaming business.
Lei reaffirmed the importance of the bidders’ commitment to “guaranteeing” local employees’ jobs.
Ao Ieong said that during the tender the bidders needed to present concrete proposals about 11 business development aspects such as promoting sports and other non-gaming activities and improving Macau’s international image as a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure, an aim given to Macau by the central government.
Cheong also reaffirmed the government’s previous decision that the gaming industry comprise a maximum of 6,000 gaming tables and 12,000 slot machines.
Currently, Macau’s six gaming operators (three concessionaires and three subconcessionaires) own 37 casinos, of which 20 are run by SJM, five by Venetian, four each by Galaxy and Melco, and two each by Wynn and MGM.
As of the end of the third quarter, the gaming industry comprised 5,974 gaming tables and 12,387 gaming machines.
Macau’s new gaming law, which was enacted earlier this year, bans the granting of subconcessions. The law stipulates that the government can grant up to six gaming concessions for up to 10 years. The concession period can be extended by no more than three years.
Unlike conventional business licences, Macau’s traditional gaming concessions grant the government considerable leeway over how the city’s casinos are run.
Macau’s first gaming concessions were granted in the mid-19th century. Its long-running casino monopoly system was abolished two years after the establishment of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) in 1999. The monopoly had been held by STDM, which was co-founded by Stanley Ho Hung Sun from Hong Kong in the early 1960s, for four decades. STDM continues to be the “mother company” of SJM Resorts.
Secretary for Administration and Justice André Cheong Weng Chon addresses Saturday’s press conference at Government Headquarters about the government’s decision to provisionally grant Macau’s current six gaming operators new concessions. – Photo: GCS
