MACAU BUSINESS By Tony Lai By Paolo A. Azevedo
Certainties, uncertainties
ess than a year before the expiry of the city’s six gaming licenses by June 2022, the government has finally shed light on the future of the sector with a public consultation exercise on the revision to the gaming law. Though the
consultation paper advanced in September has provided some answers, such as the continuously heightened oversight upon casinos and the related parties, it has also led to more queries. This is the impression among a panel of gaming
18 OCTOBER 2017
analysts, academics and lawyers in the latest webinar session of “MBtv/FRC Debates”, co-organised by Macau Business and the Rui Cunha Foundation. The seminar, titled “Game ON: The Gaming Law and the Future of the Industry”, was held exclusively online on 21 October, as the authorities wrapped up the 45-day consultation exercise on 29 October. One of the panellists — Rui Pinto Proença, a partner at local law firm MdME Lawyers — categorised the nine key provisions laid down in the consultation paper into three main areas: expected and non-controversial terms like the pledges of non-gaming investments, local employment safeguards and social responsibilities; the amendments that might bring “profound changes”, or “devil in the details”, such as the prior permission required for the gaming operators to distribute dividends, the installation of official representatives in the operators and the increase of local shareholdings; and the core provisions like the number and duration of the future gaming concessionaires. Some of the suggestions like the government delegates in the gaming operators have raised concerns in the community and the market, causing the fluctuations of gaming stocks in recent times. “It’s not defined in the document to which extent the duty and the power of these persons [the government delegates] will be,” Mr.
M 16 DECEMBER 2021
Jeju – the new Singapore L
Jeju will be as big as Singapore in terms of Gross Gaming Revenue, predicts Lawrence Teo. The Chief Operations Officer and Vice President of Dream Tower, the tallest Integrated Resort under construction on the Korean destination island, explains to Macau Business why Lotte Tour decided to enter the casino business and create a landmark. All bets are on making the casino resort the crown of the tourism jewel the company has been dominating for four decades
A recent “MBtv/FRC Debates” session discussed the consultation paper on the gaming law revision. Experts noted that the paper leaves a number of unanswered questions: from the gaming tax rate and satellite casinos to government delegates in concessionaires to the timeline for the law-making process and public tender. One thing is certain – tighter supervision under a whole new context
and ambiguity
Proença said. Should the delegates just take on the role of “an observer”, such as attending board meetings, reporting to the regulator and others, this change would be “less problematic”, Mr Proença, who has written two papers with his colleague Rui Filipe Oliveira at MdME Lawyers on the proposed gaming law revision, told the webinar.
Should the government delegates act like shareholding
acau Business – From Lotte World, a major recreational complex [with the world’s largest indoor theme park, in Seoul] to an integrated resort with casino in Jeju. A different beast. A
natural evolution? Lawrence Teo – Business is the same. But building
a landmark. M. B. – The group [Lotte] has created other landmarks in different types of business. Why would this be different? L. T. – Yes, Lotte Group has already created
directors, who could vote and veto decisions in the board, this would lead to many negative consequences, he commented. “There is an issue of conflicts of interests, there is an issue of who is willing to share the board with someone that does not have the same duty for shareholders, and there is an issue of liability — who is going to be liable and to which extent for the decisions made by this person,” the MdME lawyer illustrated.
Increasing oversight gradually downtown Seoul and Lotte Super Tower. We’re trying
In regards to the prior official approval required for gaming operators to distribute dividends, Mr Proença said the authorities probably hope to ensure the operators put money in diversifying the economy and supporting the local community via this means. “All these objectives are legitimate and could be better achieved with other types of measures that are less intrusive in shareholders’ rights,” he said. “If I could remove one of the measures [listed in the consultation document], this will be my pick.” In the perspective of another panellist Carlos Siu, the authorities need to provide clarifications on some of the proposed changes to “ease concerns in the community”. The associate professor from the Centre for Gaming and Tourism Studies of Macau Polytechnic Institute (MPI) also points out the proposed amendments are in line with the policies and measures implemented by the authorities in recent years to beef up control over the
to do the Dream Tower in Jeju. Lotte here is being just a family company; we’re a different company [Lotte Tour]. It’s not going to be [just] the tallest and the largest building in Jeju, that’s just the hardware. We say that a landmark should be the most visited destination, where tourists will go to eat, shop and maybe [visit] our observation deck. A must-visit point destination. Because of the hardware, and also the software.
M. B. – What are the main goals that you definitely
want to achieve with this Integrated Resort (IR)? L. T. – Number one EBIDTA on IR in Korea. There’s
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