{"id":20788,"date":"2021-07-28T16:25:16","date_gmt":"2021-07-28T16:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=20788"},"modified":"2026-04-23T17:11:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T20:11:09","slug":"melco-ceo-expects-macau-gaming-licences-to-be-extended","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/melco-ceo-expects-macau-gaming-licences-to-be-extended","title":{"rendered":"Melco CEO expects Macau gaming licences to be extended"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lawrence Ho, Melco’s chairman and CEO, has said he expects no surprises regarding Macau\u2019s concession renewal process despite a regulatory crackdown in China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Macau.- Lawrence Ho<\/strong> has joined the growing number of voices that expect Macau to extend its current gaming concessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the presentation of\u00a0Melco’s financial results<\/a>\u00a0for the second quarter of the year, Ho said he expects an extension of the current gaming concessions despite increasing regulatory controls in China<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said: “All the\u00a0concessionaires will be working closely with the government<\/strong>\u00a0and I do not expect any surprises.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His statement follows a similar opinion from Sands China CEO<\/a>\u00a0Wilfred Wong Ying Wai<\/strong>, who said an extension \u201cis the only alternative at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Wong Ying Wai, as Macau\u2019s legislative elections will be held on September 12<\/strong>, the relevant public consultation<\/a> and 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

He said: \u201cI don\u2019t think the government is in a rush to renew the licences<\/strong> because they want to do things right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Licences are due to expire by June 2022 but under Macau’s gaming laws, they\u00a0can be extended for up to five years<\/strong>\u00a0from the original 20-year term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ant\u00f3nio Lobo Vilela<\/a>, an expert on gaming law, has also said\u00a0that authorities are running out of time\u00a0<\/strong>to complete a public tender for June 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the Macau Government \u201ccannot control the timing of the approval of amendments <\/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

Melco Resorts\u2019 Altira Macau may shift to premium mass<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Melco Resorts is analysing the possibility of\u00a0shifting from VIP to premium mass at its Altira venue<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a conference call, the company said it has already shut its VIP operations<\/strong>. A shift could take 12 months to complete.\u00a0The casino operator\u00a0has moved its junket operations<\/strong><\/strong> to City of Dreams and Studio City<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ho said: “We will\u00a0refocus some of the existing VIP gaming space<\/strong>\u00a0[at Altira Macau] to cater to the premium mass segment, and reallocate non-gaming assets to support the premium mass initiative.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lawrence Ho, Melco’s chairman and CEO, has said he expects no surprises regarding Macau\u2019s concession renewal process despite a regulatory crackdown in China.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":20789,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Lawrence Ho, Melco's Chairman and CEO, expects no surprises regarding Macau's gaming concession renewals, aligning with Sands China's view that extensions are likely due to legislative timelines. This comes amidst increasing regulatory controls in China and the impending June 2022 license expiry. Concurrently, Melco Resorts is strategically pivoting its Altira Macau venue from VIP to premium mass operations, having already ceased VIP activities.","focusai_entities":"Lawrence Ho, Melco, Sands China, Wilfred Wong Ying Wai, Ant\u00f3nio Lobo Vilela, Macau Government, Legislative Assembly, Melco Resorts, Altira Macau, City of Dreams, Studio City","focusai_location":"Macau, China","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.95), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.9), investor_analyst (0.9), journalist_researcher (0.85)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Concession Renewal Impact","query":"What specific legislative amendments are anticipated for Macau's gaming law, and how might they alter the operational parameters or financial obligations for concessionaires post-extension?"},{"label":"Premium Mass Strategy","query":"What are the projected capital expenditure requirements and expected ROI timelines for Melco's strategic pivot from VIP to premium mass at Altira Macau, considering the competitive landscape?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,16338,158],"tags":[23906,18488],"class_list":["post-20788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-casino-news","category-east-asia-news","category-slider-home","tag-macau-casinos","tag-melco-resorts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20788","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=20788"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20797,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20788\/revisions\/20797"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}