{"id":23851,"date":"2021-10-25T09:49:31","date_gmt":"2021-10-25T12:49:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=23851"},"modified":"2026-04-23T14:29:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T17:29:33","slug":"macaus-last-public-consultation-session-was-held-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/macaus-last-public-consultation-session-was-held-today","title":{"rendered":"Macau’s last public consultation session was held today"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Macau\u2019s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) has held its last session. The public consultation period will run until October 29.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Macau.- After\u00a0cancellations\u00a0due to\u00a0local Covid-19 cases<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Typhoon Kompasu<\/a>,\u00a0authorities in Macau have held the last public consultation sessions<\/a>\u00a0on gaming law. The meeting was attended by members of the public, association members, researchers and legal experts who raised questions on proposed requirements for operators to invest in non-gaming elements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a discussion of proposals to include \u201cdelegates\u201d on Macau\u2019s gaming concessions\u00a0<\/strong>in order to allow greater checking on gaming firms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lio Chi Chong, DICJ deputy director, said: “The fact that there may or not be a Government representative it will not affect the business operations.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another proposed change is to\u00a0increase the percentage of share capital held by shareholders of Macau casino operators<\/strong>\u00a0who are permanent residents.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to TDM Canal Macau, the DICJ also said: “Considering that we hope to incentivize operators to focus their activities on Macau in the future,\u00a0we recommend that franchisees increase the proportion of these shareholders\u00a0<\/strong>and make it easier for the SAR to verify the suitability of these shareholders.”\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who attended the meeting expressed\u00a0concerns about the number and duration of future gaming concessions<\/strong>\u00a0and proposed controls on dividend distribution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few weeks ago,\u00a0a Macau law firm<\/a>\u00a0questioned that proposal, arguing that \u201cthere is no legal framework to justify any intervention by the Macau authorities<\/strong>\u00a0in the distribution of dividends from private companies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A paper issued by lawyers Rui Pinto Proen\u00e7a and Rui Filipe Olivera states: \u201cThe pursuit of profit as the ultimate goal of a private company is embedded in its legal definition prescribed by the Macau Civil Code and no shareholder can be deprived of its right to share in a company\u2019s profits<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hoi Song U, head of the DICJ Legal Division<\/strong>, said the proposal for casinos to require government endorsement before distributing profits was planned “to ensure casino operators could use their benefits to promote the financial enhancement of Macau”.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He stated: “We need to elevate the MOP200m registered capital requirement as\u00a0gaming revenue has already reached values 21 times higher than in 2000\u00a0<\/strong>and in order to turn Macau into a world travel and leisure centre investment will be required.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Questions over end of current sub-concession system<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Questions about a possible\u00a0end to the current sub-concession system<\/a>\u00a0that led to the creation of three additional Macau casino licences also arose during the sessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lei Wai Nong, Macau\u2019s Secretary for Economy and Finance<\/strong>, had said: \u201cWe don\u2019t want to encourage any more sub-concession arrangements, because we want to ensure stability in our gaming concession system\u2026they\u2026 should not expand endlessly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Davis Fong, former legislator and current director of the Institute for the Study of Commercial Gaming, said that to ensure the stability of the sector the current sector size needs to be maintained. Fong asked if the concession term could be reduced to 10 years plus five of extension in order to better align Macau with national development and stated the government should be more flexible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Macau\u2019s gaming law revision is finished, there will be 180 days to write the final report<\/strong>, after which a draft will be submitted to the Legislative Assembly for additional conversation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Macau\u2019s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) has held its last session. The public consultation period will run until October 29.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":20824,"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 Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau has concluded its public consultation on gaming law revisions, proposing significant changes impacting concessionaires. Key discussions included mandating non-gaming investments, increasing local shareholder requirements, government oversight on dividend distributions, elevating registered capital, and potentially ending the sub-concession system, all aimed at enhancing local economic diversification and regulatory control.","focusai_entities":"Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ), Lio Chi Chong, TDM Canal Macau, Rui Pinto Proen\u00e7a, Rui Filipe Olivera, Hoi Song U, Lei Wai Nong, Davis Fong, Institute for the Study of Commercial Gaming, 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":"Impact on Concession Valuations?","query":"How will the proposed changes to dividend distribution controls, increased local shareholder requirements, and potential reduction in concession terms impact the valuation models for current Macau gaming concessionaires?"},{"label":"Non-Gaming Investment Mandate?","query":"What specific governance frameworks will be established to monitor and enforce the proposed mandate for operators to invest in non-gaming elements, and what are the projected capital expenditure implications?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16338,156,158],"tags":[23911,23906],"class_list":["post-23851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-asia-news","category-regulation-news","category-slider-home","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-macau-casinos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23851","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=23851"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23881,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23851\/revisions\/23881"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}