Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) Director Paulo Martins Chan said yesterday that Galaxy Entertainment Group’s purchase last week of a 4.9 percent stake in Wynn Resorts, the majority shareholder of Wynn Macau, doesn’t violate the law regulating the local gaming industry.
Chan made the remarks while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a charity run yesterday on the campus of the University of Macau (UM) on Hengqin Island.
New York-listed Wynn Resorts announced last week that it had agreed to sell 5.3 million of its newly issued shares to Hong Kong-listed Galaxy Entertainment Group (GEG) for US$927.5 million (7.42 billion patacas), resulting in Galaxy’s acquisition of a 4.9 percent stake of Wynn Resorts.
Chan noted that as the city’s gaming law allows a local gaming operator or a shareholder of a gaming operator to own less than five percent of any of the other gaming operators’ shares, the Galaxy-Wynn transaction didn’t breach the law. He also said that the five-percent cap was an “international” standard.
Law 16/2001 regulating the city’s gaming industry was promulgated in 2001.
Chan said that Wynn Macau had notified his bureau of the transfer of the shares and that his bureau was closely following the situation, adding that he didn’t believe that the deal would have a major impact on the city’s gaming industry.
The city’s six gaming operators are SJM, Wynn, Galaxy, Venetian, MGM and Melco. While SJM, Wynn Resorts (Macau) and Galaxy are concessionaires, Venetian Macau, MGM Grand Paradise and Melco Resorts are sub-concessionaires. The concession of SJM and its sub-concession MGM will expire in 2020, while the others will expire in 2022.
While Wynn sold a sub-concession to Melco, Galaxy has a sub-concession relationship with Venetian Macau.
Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) Director Paulo Martins Chan speaks to reporters on the sidelines of a charity run on the campus of the University of Macau (UM) on Hengqin Island yesterday. Photo: Joel Chu
