{"id":26243,"date":"2022-01-13T10:30:27","date_gmt":"2022-01-13T13:30:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=26243"},"modified":"2026-04-23T12:16:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T15:16:58","slug":"macau-us-controlled-casinos-will-not-be-treated-differently-fitch-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/macau-us-controlled-casinos-will-not-be-treated-differently-fitch-says","title":{"rendered":"Macau: US-controlled casinos will not be treated differently, Fitch says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Analysts at Fitch Ratings Inc. stated US casinos in Macau are key to the local gaming industry and won’t be treated any differently from local casino operators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Macau.- Fitch Ratings Inc. has stated that\u00a0US controlled Macau casinos will not be treated any differently<\/strong>\u00a0than those owned by Chinese entities, given Macau’s recent\u00a0renewal of gaming concessions<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysts added that the US casino subsidiaries had invested money in the city and employed a lot of local citizens over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, the US holding companies in Macau are Wynn Macau Ltd., Sands China Ltd. and\u00a0MGM China Holdings Ltd<\/a>.\u00a0The casinos are subsidiaries of Wynn Resorts Inc., Las Vegas Sands Corp. and MGM Resorts International.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samuel Hu, Connor Parks and Colin Mansfield <\/strong>said all operators supported policy goals and ensured they were not swayed by the Covid-19 pandemic to lay off staff. Plus, they’ve already paid billions of dollars in taxes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, authorities in Macau carried out a series of public consultations<\/a> on gaming laws. Attendees expressed concerns about the number and duration of future gaming concessions<\/strong> and proposed controls on dividend distribution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Questions about a possible end to the current sub-concession system<\/a> that 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>, said: “We 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.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were also concerns regarding Macau\u2019s current casino licences that are due to expire in June 2022<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the city\u2019s gaming laws state that licences can be extended for up to five years<\/strong> from the original 20-year term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to this situation, Fitch put the credit ratings of Macau operators on a negative watch waiting for authorities to provide a clearer picture of the future of the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysts at JP Morgan Securities<\/a> have recently said the casino licences renewal could involve committing certain budgets for non-gaming projects in the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, Hengqin was designated a special zone by Chinese authorities to help diversify Macau\u2019s economy and move away from its reliance on gaming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Guangdong-Macau cooperation zone in Hengqin will be focused on technology and high-end manufacturing<\/strong>, traditional Chinese medicine, tourism and MICE as well as finance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Analysts at Fitch Ratings Inc. stated US casinos in Macau are key to the local gaming industry and won’t be treated any differently from local casino operators.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":20677,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Fitch Ratings asserts that US-controlled Macau casinos will not face differential treatment during gaming concession renewals, citing their significant local investment, employment, and tax contributions. This comes amidst Macau's regulatory overhaul, including potential changes to the sub-concession system and a push for non-gaming diversification, particularly through the Hengqin cooperation zone. The uncertainty surrounding concession renewals has led Fitch to place Macau operators' credit ratings on negative watch.","focusai_entities":"Fitch Ratings Inc., Wynn Macau Ltd., Sands China Ltd., MGM China Holdings Ltd., Wynn Resorts Inc., Las Vegas Sands Corp., MGM Resorts International, Samuel Hu, Connor Parks, Colin Mansfield, Lei Wai Nong, JP Morgan Securities","focusai_location":"Macau, US, Hengqin, Guangdong","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.95), compliance_legal (0.85), operator_casino (1.0), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Concession Renewal Impact","query":"What specific non-gaming investment commitments are Macau operators expected to make to secure new gaming concessions, and how will these be monitored for compliance and economic impact?"},{"label":"Sub-Concession Future","query":"How will the proposed elimination of the sub-concession system impact the operational structures and market share distribution among the current six Macau concessionaires, and what are the legal implications for existing agreements?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[157,16338,158],"tags":[23911,23906],"class_list":["post-26243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news","category-east-asia-news","category-slider-home","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-macau-casinos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26243","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=26243"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26249,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26243\/revisions\/26249"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}