The Macau government announced today the final results of its public tender for the special administrative region's six new gaming concessions.
The government published a raft of executive orders on the new gaming concessions in today's Official Gazette.
Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng signed the six gaming concession agreements one by one with the enterprises' representatives at Government Headquarters earlier today.
A statement by the Macau Government Information Bureau (GCS) said that Ho signed 10-year concession agreements respectively with MGM Grand Paradise S.A.; Galaxy Casino, S.A.; Venetian Macau, S.A.; Melco Resorts (Macau) S.A.; Wynn Resorts (Macau), S.A.; and SJM Resorts, S.A.
S.A. is the Portuguese abbreviation of sociedade anonima, i.e., public limited company (PLC). All the six concessionaires are current gaming operators in Macau.
The concession agreements signed today will take effect on January 1, 2023.
The GCS statement said that the six concessionaires have each promised to contribute to Macau's stable employment and to promote their employees' upward mobility.According to their bids, the statement pointed out, the six concessionaires promised to invest 118.8 billion patacas in total over 10 years, of which 108.7 billion patacas have been pledged for exploring overseas customer markets and developing non-gaming projects, while 10.1 billion patacas have been earmarked for gaming investment. Thus, the promised investment in non-gaming elements will be 10 times the amount invested in gaming activities, the statement underlined.
According to the statement, the gaming companies' proposals submitted during the bidding process also include their detailed development plans and investment schedules for the 10-year concession period.
After the one-by-one signing ceremonies, which were open to the media, Ho met with the six concessionaires' top representatives.
A separate GCS statement identified the representatives as Pansy Ho Chiu King from MGM Grand Paradise, Lui Che Woo from Galaxy Casino, Wilfred Wong Ying Wai from Venetian Macau, Lawrence Ho Yau Lung from Melco Resorts (Macau), Linda Chen Chih Ling from Wynn Resorts (Macau), and Daisy Ho Chiu Fung from SJM Resorts.
The government gave a press conference on the matter afterwards.
Secretary for Administration and Justice Andre Cheong Weng Chon, who chaired the government's gaming concession bidding committee, pointed out that the concessionaires shall submit to the government by the end of September every year their detailed investment plans for the following year.
Cheong said that the six operators will announce details of their decade-long investment plans at a public presentation tomorrow.
Secretary for Economy and Finance Lei Wai Long, whose portfolio includes supervision of the gaming industry, said that one of the concessionaires' top tasks was to ensure local people's stable employment.
Both policy secretaries stressed that the concessionaires' commitment to ensuring stable employment for locals and to focus on the development of Macau's non-gaming attractions, as well as to attract more foreign visitors to Macau, i.e., those from outside the Chinese mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong, continued to be the government's top priority requirements in line with its aim to develop Macau into a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic began to impact the local gaming industry, around 90 percent of Macau's visitor arrivals came from the Chinese mainland and the Chinese regions of Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Macau's gaming concession system dates back to the mid-19th century. The concessions are complex arrangements that give the government considerable leeway on how Macau's gaming industry is run, unlike conventional business licences.
Macau's six gaming operators currently own a total of 37 casinos, according to the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ). The gaming sector had 53,592 full-time employees at the end of the second quarter, accounting for 11.5 percent of Macau's total workforce, according to the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC).
Baccarat is the most popular game of chance in local casinos; it generated 86 percent of Macau's gross gaming revenue (GGR) in the first three quarters of this year.
Macau's GGR in the January-September period amounted to 31.8 billion patacas. The gaming sector has been hard hit by the adverse impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
