Macau gaming tender committee to hold press conference tomorrow

The casino policy committee tasked with overseeing Macau’s gaming concession retender will host a press conference on Saturday (November 26).

Macau.- The government committee overseeing the Macau casino licence tender process has called a press conference for tomorrow (November 26) at 11am local time. The topic was not announced, but it’s expected that the committee will have news on its decision regarding the new casino concessions.

The news was reported by public broadcaster TDM’s Portuguese-language radio service, Radio Macau.

The seven casino operators that have submitted bids for a new Macau casino licence presented their final proposals on Monday. Authorities said the companies would learn the results of the tender within 15 days.

All six of Macau’s current casino operators bid for a casino concession along with one outsider – GMM Limited, a company linked to Lim Kok Thay, chairman of Genting Group. Under the new concession regime, up to six new concessions will run for a period of ten years each. It is expected that the new concession term will begin on January 1, 2023.

Macau aims to leave behind its reputation as a city for gambling

Lei Wai Nong, Macau’s secretary of economy and finance, stressed the importance of changing the city’s reputation from that of a city for gambling. He said that non-gaming would become a major economic driver in the next ten years.

During a plenary session of the Legislative Assembly, Nong stressed that the gambling industry would have to give way to other sectors, such as MICE, culture, modern finance and Chinese medicine. He said Macau should pursue and develop these in the long term with the support of the government.

According to Macau Business, Nong said: “Non-gaming will have to become another field of economic development in the next ten years. Non-gaming elements and gaming elements must come become two important economic pillars in the future.”