{"id":20583,"date":"2021-07-22T15:43:05","date_gmt":"2021-07-22T15:43:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=20583"},"modified":"2026-04-23T17:21:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T20:21:23","slug":"sands-china-ceo-believes-macau-will-extend-gaming-licences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/sands-china-ceo-believes-macau-will-extend-gaming-licences","title":{"rendered":"Sands China CEO believes Macau will extend gaming licences"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>According to Wilfred Wong Ying Wai, Sands China Ltd\u2019s president and executive director, an extension of Macau&#8217;s current gaming concessions is the only option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Macau.- Sands China CEO <strong>Wilfred Wong Ying Wai<\/strong> has said that the extension of Macau&#8217;s current gaming concessions &#8220;is the only alternative at this point.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Wong Ying Wai, as\u00a0<strong>Macau&#8217;s legislative elections will be held on September 12<\/strong>, the relevant\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/macau-to-launch-consultation-on-gaming-rights-in-second-half\">public consultation<\/a>\u00a0and legal amendments to the gaming law will only happen after that, leaving no time to prepare for a retendering in time for when licences expire next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said: &#8220;<strong>I don\u2019t think the government is in a rush to renew the licences<\/strong>\u00a0because they want to do things right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;There are many legal issues they have to attend to, such as the concession and sub-concession issue, and for this,\u00a0<strong>they can only go to the Legislative Assembly when the new assembly is in place<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gaming advisor\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/macau-may-extend-gaming-licences-legal-expert-says\">Antonio Lobo Vilela<\/a>\u00a0has expressed a similar opinion. He said the\u00a0<strong>Macau Government \u201ccannot control the timing of the approval of amendments\u00a0<\/strong>to Macau Gaming Law, neither can it influence the timetable of discussions held in the newly elected Legislative Assembly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He added: \u201cNot having the legal and administrative basis for a tender established in advance constitutes<strong>&nbsp;a serious error<\/strong>&nbsp;when the futures of companies operating in Macau\u2019s dominant industry and employing thousands of people are at stake.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the current city\u2019s gaming laws,<strong>&nbsp;licences can be extended for up to five years<\/strong>&nbsp;from the original 20-year term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Macau&#8217;s authorities are analysing\u00a0<strong>changes to licence criteria<\/strong>. Analysts have said the city\u2019s gaming licence criteria should require<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\u201ccommitments relating to several non-core activities&#8221;<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>due to <strong>Macau being excessively dependent on tourism and gaming<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another report has suggested that <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/report-suggests-macau-consider-online-gambling-to-recover-from-covid-19\">casino operators<\/a>\u00a0should turn to online gambling and technology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to Wilfred Wong Ying Wai, Sands China Ltd\u2019s president and executive director, an extension of Macau&#8217;s current gaming concessions is the only option.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":19813,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Sands China's President, Wilfred Wong Ying Wai, asserts that extending Macau's current gaming concessions is the sole viable option given the impending legislative elections and the subsequent timeline for legal amendments. Gaming advisor Antonio Lobo Vilela concurs, highlighting the government's inability to expedite the legislative process for new tenders before current licenses expire. This situation necessitates a temporary extension, with future licensing criteria likely to emphasize diversification beyond core gaming.","focusai_entities":"Wilfred Wong Ying Wai, Sands China Ltd, Antonio Lobo Vilela, Macau Government, Legislative Assembly","focusai_location":"Macau","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (1.0), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Concession Extension Impact?","query":"What are the specific legal and financial implications for current concessionaires if Macau opts for a short-term extension rather than a full retendering process?"},{"label":"New Licensing Criteria?","query":"How might the proposed emphasis on non-core activities and diversification into online gambling or technology alter the competitive landscape and investment requirements for future Macau gaming licenses?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[157,16338,158],"tags":[23906,21680],"class_list":["post-20583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news","category-east-asia-news","category-slider-home","tag-macau-casinos","tag-sands-china"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20583","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=20583"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20598,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20583\/revisions\/20598"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}