{"id":22442,"date":"2021-09-08T13:28:12","date_gmt":"2021-09-08T16:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=22442"},"modified":"2026-04-23T15:53:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T18:53:38","slug":"sands-china-supports-guangdong-macau-plans-for-hengqin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/sands-china-supports-guangdong-macau-plans-for-hengqin","title":{"rendered":"Sands China supports Guangdong-Macau plans for Hengqin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sands China has welcomed the Guangdong-Macau plan to develop an intensive cooperation zone on Hengqin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Macau.- Sands China has spoken in favour of Macau’s project\u00a0<\/strong>to invest in Hengqin Island to create a favourable environment for\u00a0Macau\u2019s industrial diversification<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to local media reports, the Guangdong-Macau cooperation zone in Hengqin will be focused on technology and high-end manufacturing, traditional Chinese medicine, tourism and MICE, and finance. Authorities plan to develop a zone that will assist with Macau\u2019s economic diversification away from gaming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sands China said in a press release that it “is privileged to be making contributions to the\u00a0economic diversification of Macau<\/strong>\u00a0and the development of the city into a world centre of tourism and leisure.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It said it will \u201ccontinue to contribute to the economic diversification and long-term prosperity of Macau for its integration into the overall national development plan.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In April,\u00a0Lobo Viela released a research paper<\/a>\u00a0that said\u00a0Macau’s gaming licence criteria should require \u201ccommitments relating to several non-core activities.<\/strong>\u201d The paper noted that\u00a0Macau is \u201cexcessively dependent on tourism and gaming<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysts also suggest there should be a requirement\u00a0for investment in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA)\u00a0<\/strong>to create an international world-class tourism destination that recognises the uniqueness of Macau\u2019s cultural and social resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sands China CEO believes Macau will extend gaming licences<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sands China CEO Wilfred Wong Ying Wai<\/strong> has said that the extension of Macau\u2019s current gaming concessions \u201cis the only alternative at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Wong Ying Wai, as\u00a0Macau\u2019s legislative elections will be held on September 12<\/strong>, there is no time for public consultation<\/a>\u00a0and legal amendments to the gaming law in time to prepare for a retendering before 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

\u201cThere are many legal issues they have to attend to, such as the concession and sub-concession issue, and for this, they can only go to the Legislative Assembly when the new assembly is in place<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sands China has welcomed the Guangdong-Macau plan to develop an intensive cooperation zone on Hengqin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":22443,"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 has expressed support for the Guangdong-Macau cooperation zone on Hengqin Island, a strategic initiative aimed at diversifying Macau's economy beyond gaming into sectors like technology, MICE, and finance. Concurrently, Sands China CEO Wilfred Wong Ying Wai anticipates an extension of current gaming concessions, citing insufficient time for legislative amendments and public consultation before licenses expire next year, particularly given upcoming legislative elections. This development underscores the ongoing regulatory and strategic shifts impacting Macau's integrated resort operators.","focusai_entities":"Sands China, Lobo Viela, Wilfred Wong Ying Wai, Guangdong-Macau, Legislative Assembly","focusai_location":"Guangdong, Macau, Hengqin Island, Hong Kong, Greater Bay Area","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), 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 Macau's gaming concessionaires if the current licenses are extended rather than re-tendered, particularly concerning the concession and sub-concession structure?"},{"label":"Diversification ROI Metrics","query":"How will the proposed investments in non-gaming verticals within the Guangdong-Macau cooperation zone on Hengqin be measured for ROI, and what governance frameworks will ensure compliance with diversification mandates for concessionaires?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[157,16338],"tags":[23906,21680],"class_list":["post-22442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news","category-east-asia-news","tag-macau-casinos","tag-sands-china"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22442","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=22442"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22448,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22442\/revisions\/22448"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}