Macau proposes new bill on casino credit and junket contracts

The Macau government has drafted a bill proposing that junkets have a formal contract for granting credit.

Macau.- André Cheong Weng Chon, acting as spokesman for the city’s Executive Council, and Adriano Marques Ho, director of the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, have revealed that Macau is working on a bill with new rules for junket operators offering credit.

Junket operators would have to have a formal contract for granting credit to any gaming concessionaire they tie to. Management companies, the non-concessionaire entities permitted to run satellite casino venues under a concessionaire licence, would not be allowed to establish a casino gaming credit contract or perform any related legal acts.

If passed by the Legislative Assembly, the bill would replace the existing gaming credit law, Law No. 5/2004. Neither Cheong nor Ho provided further details on the differences between the newly proposed bill and the existing gaming credit law. Cheong said the government was still reviewing the existing regulatory regime dealing with illicit gambling and formulating new legal proposals.

He said the bill would represent a comprehensive review of gaming development and illicit gambling behaviours; “not merely a response to one or two criminal cases.” The bill is expected to be presented to the Legislative Assembly for deliberation later this year.