• Subscribe
  • Magazines
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
Friday 30 May 2025
  • zh-hant 中文
  • ja 日本語
  • en English
IAG
Advertisement
  • Newsfeed
  • Mag Articles
  • Video
  • Opinion
  • Tags
  • Regional
    • Africa
    • Australia
    • Cambodia
    • China
    • CNMI
    • Europe
    • Hong Kong
    • India
    • Japan
    • Laos
    • Latin America
    • Malaysia
    • Macau
    • Nepal
    • New Zealand
    • North America
    • North Korea
    • Philippines
    • Russia
    • Singapore
    • South Korea
    • Sri Lanka
    • Thailand
    • UAE
    • Vietnam
  • Events
  • Contributors
  • SUBSCRIBE FREE
  • 中文
  • 日本語
No Result
View All Result
IAG
  • Newsfeed
  • Mag Articles
  • Video
  • Opinion
  • Tags
  • Regional
    • Africa
    • Australia
    • Cambodia
    • China
    • CNMI
    • Europe
    • Hong Kong
    • India
    • Japan
    • Laos
    • Latin America
    • Malaysia
    • Macau
    • Nepal
    • New Zealand
    • North America
    • North Korea
    • Philippines
    • Russia
    • Singapore
    • South Korea
    • Sri Lanka
    • Thailand
    • UAE
    • Vietnam
  • Events
  • Contributors
  • SUBSCRIBE FREE
  • 中文
  • 日本語
No Result
View All Result
IAG
No Result
View All Result

Concerns that raising local ownership threshold on Macau casinos could limit foreign investment, widen inequality

Ben Blaschke by Ben Blaschke
Thu 28 Oct 2021 at 05:55
Macau to undergo third round of mass testing as new COVID case keeps Zhuhai border closed
56
SHARES
1.4k
VIEWS
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

A proposed increase in the share percentage required to be held in Macau’s gaming concessionaires by locals would likely prove counter-productive, effectively limiting foreign investment and benefiting only a privileged minority of locals, according to Macau-based MdME Lawyers.

In the third of a series of papers by MdME exploring proposed amendments to Macau’s gaming law, Carlos Eduardo Coelho, Rui Filipe Oliveira and Rui Pinto Proença warn the imposition of such a revision could in fact harm the Macao SAR Government’s own stated goal of “centralizing the development of their business in Macau, facilitating the Macao SAR Government knowledge and effective verification of the suitability of the related shareholders.”

This, they say, could be a result of expanding local interest over the management expertise and financial resources of foreign shareholders, impacting the listing of existing or future casino operations, by forcing changes to the shareholding structure of concessionaires and by limiting shareholding to a select minority of local residents who have the financial resources to purchase an economic interest.

Under current Gaming Law 16/2001, casino concessionaires are required to delegate management to a Managing Director who must be a Macau permanent resident and hold 10% or more of the company’s share capital. The idea, when written into law 20 years ago, was to ensure a local person would have a real economic interest in the growth and sustained development of the business.

However, there are no limitations to the type or category of shares the Managing Director must hold and as such their holdings tend to be notional: they typically do not hold a stake in the listed entity and are therefore nor granted the full spectrum of a concessionaire’s voting rights and entitlements.

Where proposed amendments to the gaming law remain unclear are whether the 10% minimum requirement will be raised, whether the mandatory holding would be dispersed among a greater number of Macau residents and, most importantly, whether it would be required to translate into real voting rights.

According to MdME, considerations around these factors, specifically the potential impact on foreign investment and whether they would truly benefit Macau locals, “question the very need to impose a minimum threshold for local shareholders, as well as the purposes and effectiveness of such requirement.

“In fact, the objective consequence of the proposal translates into a limitation to overseas ownership,” the MdME team writes.

“Determining that a minimum percentage of the share capital must be held by Macau residents means that a lower percentage is available for investors from outside the region, including from Hong Kong and Mainland China.

“Macau’s economy has historically been open to overseas investment without any restrictions. This has been a practical inevitability due to Macau’s limited territory, population and resources. As in many other industries, the transformation of Macau’s gaming and tourism industries was only possible due to the importation of business models, expertise and capital from abroad. Its success is self-evident. These factors are also inevitably necessary to establish Macau as a world center of leisure and entertainment.

“If the policy objective that motivates this proposal is the enhancement of scrutiny over the shareholders of the concessionaires, we note that the gaming industry is already heavily regulated, and the Government holds significant legal (and practical) power over concessionaires and its shareholders.

“As per the measures proposed in the consultation paper, the Government is simultaneously considering both the increase of its supervising role and the reduction of the concession term. In this scenario, the concessionaires are and will be subject to a tight and continuous monitoring of their suitability, performance as well as to periodical reviews resulting from their need to retender at the term of their contracts. These measures already provide a very significant level of control over overseas (as well as domestic) investment.”

Instead, MdME proposes an alternative solution, particularly if the policy objective of the government is to rebalance the gaming concessionaires’ executive powers and shift towards a centralized decision-making process in Macau.

In this case, “the natural way forward would be to implement a higher ratio of resident directors,” they suggest.

“That could be achieved, for instance, with the creation of an executive committee with a number of members that are permanent residents and effectively domiciled in the SAR. This would impose that board and executive committee meetings would have to be held locally, establishing Macau as their effective base of operations.

“Such mechanism, if combined with corporate governance requirements of international standard, would contribute not only to localize but also to improve the management of casino concessionaires.”

At the final in-person public consultation session held by the Macau Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) as part of the ongoing public consultation process into the revision of Macau Gaming Law, the DICJ strongly implied no changes were planned to the application of local share capital requirements with regard to economic interest or voting rights, but did ask the public for opinions on the level of increase which should occur above the current 10%.”

RelatedPosts

Robert Goldstein to step aside as LVS Chairman and CEO from March 2026, replaced by Patrick Dumont

Robert Goldstein: Macau gaming market challenged by increased competition, online gambling and US-Sino trade war

Fri 30 May 2025 at 06:42
Macau’s hotel occupancy rate reaches 89% in July

Macau’s hotel occupancy rate climbed to 87.8% in April

Thu 29 May 2025 at 17:27
On the brink

On the brink

Thu 29 May 2025 at 13:27
Macau GGR rises 43.7% year-on-year to MOP$86.86 billion in 2021

Moody’s maintains investment-grade rating for Macau as fiscal reserves climb to US$77 billion

Thu 29 May 2025 at 05:23
Load More
Tags: casinoconcessionairesGaming LawlocalsMacauManaging DirectorMdME Lawyersshareholding
Share22Share4
Ben Blaschke

Ben Blaschke

A former sports journalist in Sydney, Australia, Ben has been Managing Editor of Inside Asian Gaming since early 2016. He played a leading role in developing and launching IAG Breakfast Briefing in April 2017 and oversees as well as being a key contributor to all of IAG’s editorial pursuits.

Current Issue

Editorial – Foreigner-only casinos: Seize the day

Editorial – Foreigner-only casinos: Seize the day

by Ben Blaschke
Thu 29 May 2025 at 13:38

I was recently asked by someone working at a foreigner-only casino for my thoughts on the outlook for the Asian...

On the brink

On the brink

by Pierce Chan
Thu 29 May 2025 at 13:27

The transition period for Macau’s 11 satellite casinos is set to expire at the end of this year, after which...

A moral defense of gambling

A moral defense of gambling

by Andrew Russell
Wed 28 May 2025 at 18:19

Economist Andrew Russell explores the differences between community benefit and in-principle arguments for the existence of a legal gambling industry...

Face to face

Face to face

by Ben Blaschke
Wed 28 May 2025 at 18:08

Konami caught the eye at the recent G2E Asia show in Macau with its SYNK Vision Tables, which utilize facial...

Evolution Asia
Aristocrat
GLI
Mindslot
Mindslot
Solaire
Hann
Tecnet
Nustar
Jumbo

Related Posts

Robert Goldstein to step aside as LVS Chairman and CEO from March 2026, replaced by Patrick Dumont

Robert Goldstein: Macau gaming market challenged by increased competition, online gambling and US-Sino trade war

by Ben Blaschke
Fri 30 May 2025 at 06:42

Las Vegas Sands (LVS) Chairman and CEO Robert Goldstein has bemoaned the lingering impact of the US-China trade war, as well as increased domestic and regional competition and the rise of online gambling across Asia for sustained flatness in the...

Industry hopes Thai Entertainment Complex Roundtable can establish “common ground” with those opposing legal casinos

Industry hopes Thai Entertainment Complex Roundtable can establish “common ground” with those opposing legal casinos

by Ben Blaschke
Fri 30 May 2025 at 05:38

Industry figures taking part in the Thai Entertainment Complex Roundtable (TECR) next Thursday 5 June hope to find common ground with those who oppose Thailand’s Entertainment Complex Bill, citing the opportunity to use an evidence-based approach to achieve outcomes that...

Genting Malaysia misses 4Q24 estimates, slashes dividends as rising costs hurt profitability

Genting Malaysia reports US$613 million in Q1 revenue, impacted by lower VIP at Resorts World Genting

by Ben Blaschke
Fri 30 May 2025 at 05:23

Genting Malaysia reported a 6% decline in group-wide revenue to MYR2.60 billion (US$613 million) in the three months to 31 March 2025, including a 7% drop in revenue at flagship Malaysian property Resorts World Genting (RWG) to MYR1.62 billion (US$382...

Macau’s hotel occupancy rate reaches 89% in July

Macau’s hotel occupancy rate climbed to 87.8% in April

by Pierce Chan
Thu 29 May 2025 at 17:27

Macau’s average hotel occupancy rate rose by 4.7 percentage points year-on-year to 87.8% in April, with the number of guests increasing by 3.4% to 1.2 million. According to data from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC), there were 147 hotel...



IAG

© 2005-2024
Inside Asian Gaming.
All rights reserved.

  • SUBSCRIBE FREE
  • NEWSFEED
  • MAG ARTICLES
  • VIDEO
  • OPINION
  • TAGS
  • REGIONAL
  • EVENTS
  • CONSULTING
  • CONTRIBUTORS
  • MAGAZINES
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT
  • ADVERTISE
  • 中文
  • 日本語

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

No Result
View All Result
  • 中文
  • 日本語
  • Subscribe
  • Newsfeed
  • Mag Articles
  • Video
  • Opinion
  • Tags
  • Regional
  • Events
  • Contributors
  • Magazines
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • About
  • Home for G2E Asia

© 2005-2024
Inside Asian Gaming.
All rights reserved.

  • 中文
  • English
  • 日本語