Macau’s Legislative Assembly (AL) has confirmed that concessionaires will be allowed to accept player deposits under the city’s revised gaming laws.
The Second Standing Committee of the Legislative Assembly continued discussions on the bill “Legal Framework for Operating Games of Chance in Casinos” on Friday, largely focusing on the issue of player deposits and whether concessionaires and junkets will be permitted to assume such liabilities. The members were informed by the Legislative Assembly’s advisors that it is legally permissible for concessionaires to receive deposits, while Committee Chairman Chan Chak Mo stated that this will continue to be the case under the revised gaming law.
“Concessionaire are allowed to accept deposits and [assume that liability],” Chan said, “because logically they can only issue chips with gamblers if they [are empowered to] accept deposits.”
This will not, however, be the case for junkets. As previously reported by Inside Asian Gaming, new regulatory provisions governing junket promoters would see junket representatives found to have accepted player deposits jailed for between two to five years or fined up to MOP$1.5 million.
The “Legal Framework for Operating Games of Chance in Casinos” bill also states that junket operators will be prohibited from sharing gaming revenue with concessionaires or from contracting for the exclusive use of a casino gaming area. This effectively ends the days of junkets operating their own private VIP Clubs in Macau casinos.
Junkets will be further restricted under the new legal regime by being restricted to providing services to just one concessionaire each and by limiting their revenue to simply earning a commission on the rolling of players.
