MACAU BUSINESS


the RMB and were very quiet about it or they had no idea what was planned,” gaming analyst, Ben Lee, told our sister publication Macau News Agency. For the managing partner of IGamiX Management & Consulting, it is inevitable that the digital yuan will arrive in Macau, “sooner than most people expect,” and with considerable impact on the gaming industry. “Although Macau has not yet reached this process at this


stage, we should follow the pace of the mainland government,” Ho Iat Seng said. “We will keep communicating with the People’s Bank of China and start a feasibility study around launching the digital RMB in Macau. Therefore, we need to add provisions in relevant law to allow for the introduction of digital currencies.” It seems certain that some will benefi t more than others


from this change. Zeng Zhonglu, associate professor at the Centre for Gaming and Tourism Studies at Macau Polytechnic Institute, believes that VIP lounges will suffer a blow to revenues due to the possible implementation of digital currency. Brokerage Sanford C Bernstein said in a research report that the introduction of the digital yuan could prove particularly benefi cial for Macau’s high margin mass and premium mass segments, allowing easier access to money for mainland customers inside Macau’s casinos: “in the context of casinos, this would mean for example being able to buy chips for play directly from the casino cage (or even a table) instantly using (digital) RMB without the need to convert


“[Digital yuan] would be advantageous as it would simplify the process and not subject customers to f/x transaction costs. Digital RMB would allow greater government scrutiny and control over money fl ows, but it would also allow easier money transfer [and]


eliminate the need to use intermediaries” Brokerage Sanford C Bernstein


into HKD.” And the elimination of the need for currency conversion from the key Macau customer group (mainland Chinese) “would be advantageous as it would simplify the process and not subject customers to f/x transaction costs. Digital RMB would allow greater government scrutiny and control over money fl ows, but it would also allow easier money transfer [and] eliminate the need to use intermediaries (like junkets, underground banks or pawnshops). As far as is publicly known at this time, the digital yuan


currently being tested, called e-CNY, would be fully traceable with real-name registration that would allow the government to know every aspect of a citizen’s transactions.


China’s infl uence I


t is known today that the intervention of the Central Government of the PRC in the public tender of 2001 was minimal: Beijing told Edmund Ho that it wanted three licenses, and that being the case it still remains to be seen whether the mainland did so under


pressure from Stanley Ho, who at the time put several contingencies in place, afraid that STDM would not be guaranteed one of the concessions. Next time will be different, believes Jorge Costa


Oliveira, former Commissioner for Legal Affairs at the Macau Gaming Commission. “It will be huge. The infl uence of the central authorities in China is already very evident in Macau today; it’s hard to imagine it will be absent for such an important decision,” says the man who oversaw the process in 2001. Mr Oliveira, now Partner & CEO of JCO Consultancy,


Are US-based concessionaires right to be concerned about the ‘cold war’ climate between the US and China, or has the situation improved since Trump left offi ce?


“will be huge”


also believes it “will depend on the Macau government’s capacity to create critical mass and take the lead. A high level of autonomy does not exist solely because it is enshrined in a legal document; it exists if the local institutions demonstrate the ability to handle local affairs effi ciently and if the local elites are willing to fi ght for it in a responsible manner.” In this context, one of the most sensitive topics results


from the relationship between China and the United States, with three of the current six operators coming from Las Vegas.


The truth is that a scenario that seemed complicated for North American matrix operators has recently changed: in a short time, Steve Wynn ceased to lead Wynn, Adelson died and Trump is no longer president of the US.


AUGUST 2021 19


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