Casino promoters ask for extension on Macau licences

Analysts fear revenues may not fully recover before Macau’s current casino licences come up for renewal in 2022.

Macau.- Lam Kai Kong, director of the General Association of Administrators and Promoters for the Macau Gaming Industry, has said the renewal process for gaming licences in the city should be pushed back to account for the financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Casinos in the gaming hub continue to make losses due to low visitation levels caused by travel restrictions resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Speaking at the University of Macau, Kong suggested the current gaming concessions should be extended since gross gaming revenues (GGR) are not likely to recover any time soon.

He did not give a specific date or timeframe of how long he believed licences should be extended.

Local gaming concessions are to expire in 2022. It is believed highly unlikely that large concessionaires would lose their licences but industry observers expect greater demands for diversification will be placed in new contracts.

Any extension could benefit the emerging integrated resorts industry in neighbouring Japan since some analysts foresee a delay to its schedule to grant licences, which could push it back towards the time of the renewal process in Macau.