{"id":777001092,"date":"2022-12-15T14:25:19","date_gmt":"2022-12-15T17:25:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777001092"},"modified":"2026-04-23T02:00:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T05:00:11","slug":"macaus-legislative-assembly-approves-junket-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/macaus-legislative-assembly-approves-junket-bill","title":{"rendered":"Macau\u2019s Legislative Assembly approves junket bill"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The legislation will enter force in time for Macau\u2019s new gaming concessions on January 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Macau.- New legislation covering junket businesses and satellite casinos has been approved by Macau&#8217;s Legislative Assembly.&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/macau-vip-gaming-promoter-bill-passes-first-reading\" target=\"_blank\">The bill had a first reading in April<\/a>&nbsp;and has since undergone revisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The bill aims to improve oversight of the industry. It allows junket operators to each work with&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/macau-gaming-law-will-allow-junkets-to-serve-one-casino-operator\" target=\"_blank\">only one casino operator<\/a>. Individuals will no longer be licensed as intermediaries; only companies incorporated in Macau.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Casino franchisees will still be allowed to provide players with an account to hold cash, chips or other payment methods for gambling purposes, but they will be prohibited from providing monetary interest on the accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The bill sets a penalty of up to five years in prison for junket operators that solicit or accept illegal deposits. Collaborators will not be allowed to offer loans or request cash&nbsp;or gaming chip deposits from players, either personally or via a third party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Macau\u2019s gaming regulator may also set a maximum number of junkets that each casino concessionaire may have as a partner each year. The share capital of a junket firm should be no less than MOP10m (US$1.25m), and at least 50 per cent of this capital has to be held by a Macau permanent resident aged 21 years old or above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Legislator<strong>&nbsp;Jos\u00e9 Pereira Coutinho&nbsp;<\/strong>asked during the final reading of the bill whether the gaming sector would be consulted if the government changed the current 1.25 per cent cap on rolling chip commissions for junket businesses.<strong>&nbsp;Lei Wai Nong<\/strong>, secretary for economy and finance, said the government is &#8220;open&#8221; to receiving opinions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>See also:<\/strong>&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/macau-casino-operators-to-sign-new-concession-contracts-on-friday\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Macau casino operators to sign new concession contracts on Friday<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The legislation will enter force in time for Macau\u2019s new gaming concessions on January 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":21186,"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 Legislative Assembly has approved new legislation for junket businesses and satellite casinos, effective January 1, coinciding with new gaming concessions. The bill introduces stringent oversight, limiting junket operators to a single casino partner, prohibiting monetary interest on player accounts, and imposing significant capital requirements and penalties for illegal deposits. This regulatory overhaul aims to enhance governance and compliance within the SAR's gaming sector.","focusai_entities":"Macau Legislative Assembly, Jos\u00e9 Pereira Coutinho, Lei Wai Nong","focusai_location":"Macau","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.95), regulator (0.98), compliance_legal (0.97), operator_casino (0.98), payments_fraud_aml (0.9), investor_analyst (0.96), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Junket Revenue Projections?","query":"Given the new operational constraints and capital requirements, what are the revised GGR and NGR projections for Macau's junket sector in the next fiscal year?"},{"label":"Concessionaire Market Dynamics?","query":"How will the 'one junket, one casino' rule fundamentally alter the competitive landscape and market share distribution among Macau's concessionaires?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16338,154,158],"tags":[23911,23906],"class_list":["post-777001092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-asia-news","category-legislation-news","category-slider-home","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-macau-casinos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777001092","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=777001092"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777001092\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777001109,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777001092\/revisions\/777001109"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777001092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777001092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777001092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}