2020, Stanley Ho’s second headache


The three casinos in Portugal are big business for Stanley Ho and STDM in Europe. With the concession expiring in 2020, with no possible extension, STDM fears the new, international tender signals the end of a 60-year relationship.


By João Meneses putaoya@hotmail.com T 20 JULY 2019


he two gambling concessions owned by Stanley Ho end in 2020. Macau’s (via SJM) has been extended until


2022, but that of Portugal (via STDM/Estoril Sol) will not only not be extended (Portuguese law forbids it), but nothing is known about the form of the international tender. The Portuguese Government


says it is preparing documentation related to the launch of the contest but has not yet committed to dates.


Industry sources speaking to Macau Business in Lisbon admit that this will happen in the Summer, until the end of the year, but they consider it a very tight deadline. The STDM concession expires on 31st December. All


sources contacted by Macau Business expect that a highly attended competition, with the presence of powerful international companies, will inevitably end in complaints – and therefore in court. Should the result of the competition be challenged it may


be that on New Year’s Day 2021 no new concessionaire will appear in the gambling district of the Portuguese capital. There is another concern that the Estoril Sol officials are at no pains to hide: apparently, the Portuguese Government pledged to listen to the incumbent concessionaire before elaborating upon and publicising the terms of the public tender that will apply to the old Casino Estoril and the newer Casino Lisboa. As far as is known this hearing did not happen, causing


anxiety in the ranks of the STDM managers in Lisbon. The fact that this is an international public tender and is likely to attract major operators from all over the world is of considerable concern to those responsible for Estoril Sol. If a decisive criterion in the choice of winner is the value of the initial counterparts (in addition to taxes paid annually by law), there is a conviction that STDM may lose a concession it has had in Portugal (Estoril) for 60 years. Important in this context will also be the duration of the


contract: 30 years is not equal to 20, the minimum that our sources understand as reasonable to enable the business and investments that the government may require. The lack of definition of the model and launch date of the


competition have already led Estoril Sol to freeze investment, for example, in the machine park, which would not be recoverable within a year.


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