{"id":16635,"date":"2021-04-06T15:35:01","date_gmt":"2021-04-06T15:35:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=16635"},"modified":"2026-04-23T20:34:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T23:34:59","slug":"macau-junket-operators-at-risk-from-new-laws-and-covid-19-impact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/macau-junket-operators-at-risk-from-new-laws-and-covid-19-impact","title":{"rendered":"Macau junket operators at risk from new laws and Covid-19 impact"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Macau\u2019s junket operators have been deeply affected by travel restrictions and now China’s restrictions against cross-border gambling services. Analysts believe several could fold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Macau.- Despite Macau’s casino operators slowly beginning to show some encouraging results<\/a><\/em>, VIP gaming promoters or junkets are at risk, analysts say,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On March 1 China\u2019s National People\u2019s Congress <\/strong>approved an amendment to the country\u2019s criminal law so that anyone who \u201corganises\u201d overseas gambling<\/strong> for mainland Chinese will be deemed to have committed a criminal act.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the law wasn\u2019t designed specifically to stop junket operators working with Macau\u2019s casinos<\/strong>, the absence of clarity is causing junket operators to avoid taking a risks<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Covid-19 travel restrictions<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0also continue to impact on the junket sector <\/strong>in Macau due to the absence of VIP clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Macau\u2019s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) <\/strong>has reported that there are now\u00a085 junkets authorised to operate in the Special Administrative Region (SAR)<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kwok Chi Chung<\/strong>, president of a junket trade body, the Macau Association of Gaming and Entertainment Promoters, said: “I will not be surprised if there are only a couple of major junket firms left standing in the market <\/strong>in the future.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kwok Chi Chung<\/strong> predicted that Macau\u2019s VIP gaming sector won’t return to pre-Covid 19 levels <\/strong>of business due to constraints on money flow out of the mainland, as well as the country\u2019s latest criminal code changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mass gaming: A possible solution<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Despite this difficult outlook, veteran junket investor Luiz Lam<\/strong> thinks Macau\u2019s junkets have a unique role<\/strong> in the city\u2019s gaming scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Luiz Lam, some junket operators have also started to run their business in a \u201cmass gaming style\u201d<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some junket operators are offering discounts on food and drink at casinos<\/strong> or transport arrangements to be \u201chighly customised\u201d for their gaming patrons and compete with casino operators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kwok Chi Chung <\/strong>added: “The client source for the VIP gaming sector will thin out someday<\/strong>. So expanding the business into a different dimension is the right thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Macau\u2019s junket operators have been deeply affected by travel restrictions and now China’s restrictions against cross-border gambling services. Analysts believe several could fold.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":16640,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Macau's junket operators face severe challenges from China's new criminal law targeting cross-border gambling and persistent COVID-19 travel restrictions, leading analysts to predict significant industry consolidation. Industry figures anticipate a permanent reduction in the VIP gaming sector's scale, prompting some junkets to explore mass-market strategies for viability. This shift will fundamentally alter Macau's gaming landscape.","focusai_entities":"Kwok Chi Chung, Luiz Lam, China's National People's Congress, Macau's Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ), Macau Association of Gaming and Entertainment Promoters","focusai_location":"Macau, China","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.95), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.9), investor_analyst (0.95), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Junket Consolidation Impact","query":"What is the projected timeline and scale of junket operator consolidation in Macau, and how will this impact the overall VIP GGR contribution to the SAR's gaming economy?"},{"label":"Mass Gaming Strategy","query":"How are Macau's integrated resorts adapting their B2C strategies to attract high-value mass market players, given the anticipated decline in traditional VIP junket patronage?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16338,154,158],"tags":[23906],"class_list":["post-16635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-asia-news","category-legislation-news","category-slider-home","tag-macau-casinos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16635"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16653,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16635\/revisions\/16653"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}