The Legislative Assembly (AL) passed the outline of a bill proposing that only gaming concessionaires and junket operators – officially known as gaming promoters, can be credit-granting entities, while another law that regulates illegal gambling activities will be amended by the government within this year.
Secretary for Economy and Finance Lei Wai Nong made the remarks during the legislature’s plenary Q&A session yesterday, adding that the amendment bill will be drafted by the government this year and then passed to the legislature for debate and vote.
The gaming credit bill proposes replacing Macau’s current law regulating the city’s casino credit operations, which was enacted in 2004.
Lei said the legislative intent of the gaming credit bill is not “significantly different” to the existing casino credit law. It is mainly a technical adjustment to provide for the regulation of credit operations within the casino sector, including the entities that may engage in the gaming-related credit business, and the corresponding rights and obligations, so as to make Macau’s gaming industry “healthier”.
Some lawmakers voiced concerns about illegal money exchange operations in local casinos. Lei responded that the Secretariat for Economy and Finance has been working to ensure full compliance by all gaming operators and would further step up enforcement in conjunction with the relevant authorities.
Some lawmakers also expressed concern about how to protect the gaming promoters’ rights as far as the granting of credit to gamblers is concerned. Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) Director Adriano Marques Ho responded that there already exists a very good mechanism for gaming promoters to lend money, adding that they can always choose the amount of money to be borrowed by their clients, such as when people borrow money from banks, which always depends on the collateral. He also said that there is already a clear system in place for the city’s gaming promoters to know the actual credit limit of their clients.
The bill will now be passed on to one of the legislature’s standing committees for in-depth review and debate, after which it will once again be presented to a plenary session of the legislature for an article-by-article vote in its second and final reading.
Secretary for Economy and Finance Lei Wai Nong looks on during yesterday’s plenary Q&A session in the legislature’s hemicycle. – Photo courtesy of TDM
