{"id":777012204,"date":"2024-01-03T08:43:02","date_gmt":"2024-01-03T11:43:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777012204"},"modified":"2026-04-22T14:21:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T17:21:56","slug":"50-drop-in-number-of-macau-junket-operators-in-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/50-drop-in-number-of-macau-junket-operators-in-2023","title":{"rendered":"50% drop in number of Macau junket operators in 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The junket sector continues to decline, with the number of licensed operators falling to 18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Macau.- Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau<\/strong> has reported a 50 per cent reduction in the number of licensed junket operators in 2023. It makes it the 11th consecutive year of decline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current list of licensed operators indicates a decrease from 36 in January 2023 to 18. Macau had 235 licensed junket operators in January 2013. The fall can be attributed to the crackdown on junkets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The leaders of two of Macau’s biggest former junket operators were arrested last year.\u00a0Alvin Chau Cheok Wa<\/strong>, the former CEO of Suncity (now\u00a0LET Group Holdings Ltd<\/a>), was handed\u00a0an 18-year prison sentence<\/a>\u00a0in January, and Levo Chan Weng Lin<\/strong>, the former head of Tak Chun Group, was\u00a0indicted for organised crime<\/a>, illicit gaming activities, fraud and money laundering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides this, licensed gaming promoters now face new legal restrictions. Each junket can partner with only one casino<\/strong> and can earn a capped commission on rolling chip turnover, but cannot share the casino’s revenue or operate VIP rooms within the casino.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Macau government also set\u00a0a cap on the maximum number of junkets<\/a>\u00a0each casino operator can collaborate with in 2024. The regulator’s list shows varying limits, with Sands China and SJM Holdings allowed up to 12 junkets, while MGM China Holdings and Melco Resorts & Entertainment can each work with up to eight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The junket sector continues to decline, with the number of licensed operators falling to 18.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":21513,"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 licensed junket operators have experienced an 11th consecutive year of decline, with numbers falling 50% in 2023 to just 18, a significant drop from 235 in 2013. This contraction is primarily driven by a government crackdown, including the arrests and sentencing of former Suncity and Tak Chun Group leaders, alongside the implementation of stringent new legal restrictions on junket operations and their partnerships with casino concessionaires.","focusai_entities":"Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, Suncity, LET Group Holdings Ltd, Tak Chun Group, Sands China, SJM Holdings, MGM China Holdings, Melco Resorts & Entertainment, Alvin Chau Cheok Wa, Levo Chan Weng Lin","focusai_location":"Macau","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.95), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.95), payments_fraud_aml (0.85), investor_analyst (0.9), journalist_researcher (0.8)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"VIP Segment Outlook","query":"What is the projected long-term impact of these junket reforms on Macau's overall GGR, specifically the VIP segment's contribution, and how are concessionaires adapting their direct VIP strategies and capital allocation?"},{"label":"Regulatory Efficacy","query":"How will the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau measure the efficacy of these new junket regulations in mitigating illicit activities and ensuring a more transparent, compliant VIP gaming environment under the revised governance frameworks?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[157,16338],"tags":[23906],"class_list":["post-777012204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news","category-east-asia-news","tag-macau-casinos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777012204","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=777012204"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777012204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777012219,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777012204\/revisions\/777012219"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777012204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777012204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777012204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}