Macau legislators concerned over gaming law review

Legislators question the feasibility of undertaking a full review of gaming law by the end of the year.

Macau.- After the Macau government announced it would be launching a public consultation to review gaming law, some legislators expressed concerns over feasibility of completing a review by “year end”.

During the Legislative Assembly session, legislators Au Kam San and Davis Fong Ka Chio questioned whether there was enough time to undertake such a legal review before mid-2022.

According to city’s government, such a review is a crucial ahead of a public re-tender process for Macau gaming rights, linked to the expiry, in June 2022, of Macau’s existing six gaming licences.

Monday’s Legislative Assembly session was a follow-up to the Macau government’s policy address for 2020, outlined last week by Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng.

Secretary Lei said that the government could not yet provide a timeframe for the revision of the existing gaming law and for a re-tender process.

“We have never stopped working on it, and we are striving to conduct the public consultation by this year-end,” Mr Lei said at the assembly.

Mr Lei noted Macau was now at a “different level” of public policy development on gaming, on related regulatory matters and in terms of market sophistication “compared to 2003″.

Macau now requires certain commitments from operators on non-gaming elements, on corporate social responsibility and in terms of them helping local small and medium-sized enterprises, Mr Lei noted.

The official also hinted that the government would like to broaden the concept of non-gaming elements beyond dining and shopping.