MACAU BUSINESS G E
Gaming operators donate funds to flood-stricken Zhengzhou
aming operators - SJM, Sands China, MGM China, Galaxy, Wynn Macau and Melco Resorts - have all announced MOP60 million (US$7.4 million) in donations to assist with Zhengzhou flooding rescue and relief efforts.
The city of more than 10 million people in Henan province
has experienced a series of rare and heavy rainstorms, leading Chinese Authorities to issue the highest warning level for Henan province. The death toll across the province reached 33 on Thursday, and authorities said more than 3 million people had been affected. About 200,000 residents were evacuated in Zhengzhou, local
government officials said, as soldiers led rescue efforts in the city of more than 10 million people which saw the equivalent of a year’s average rain dumped on it in just three days.
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Londoner Court Hotel all-suite hotel could open in September
ver since cross-border movements between Macau and Guangdong were eased this month, Sands China retail, gaming and hotel businesses have bounced back, with the operator’s President Wilfred Wong revealing that the group is already
preparing the possible opening of the Londoner Court all-suite hotel in September. After a string of local cases in Guangdong at the end of
May, several restrictions were applied to cross-border movements between the province and Macau, leading June to report the lowest gross gaming results this year. However, the situation was gradually restored and since July
7 no areas in the province require a quarantine of 14 days upon entry and after July 10 the required test validity period was changed from 48 hours to 7 days, with daily visitor entries in the SAR back to over 30,000 as of this month. “Business has recovered and we are now back to a similar situation as in April and May […] in terms of hotel accommodation, retail. Gaming has recovered, particularly the mass market segment, which has improved quite a lot,” Wong said at the sidelines of the opening of the group’s 2021 Sands Shopping Carnival. Sands China saw its total net revenues for the second
quarter of this year increase by 10 per cent quarter-to-quarter to US$849 million, with net losses also reduced to US$166 million.
22 SEPTEMBER 2021
Gaming concessions likely to be extended beyond 2022 – Legal expert
he Macau SAR government faces considerable time constraint challenges if it still intends to complete a gaming concession public tender by 2022, and will likely extend the existing concessions, gaming legal expert, António Lobo Vilela, posited in a recently published article.
In an article published for the International Magazine Gaming Law, Lobo Vilela considered that even if the pandemic was to come to a conclusion next year, the Macau government ‘will likely still have to extend the current concessions and sub-concessions’. The Macau government has announced it will organize a public tender in 2022
to re-award concessions, furthermore, it has stated its intention to amend the Macau Gaming Law following a public consultation, to be concluded in the fourth quarter of 2021. The former Macau SAR government legal consultant considered that considering the timeframe previously used in the first gaming concession process, the Macau government faces ‘two serious obstacles’ to its ambition to complete a public tender in June 2022. ‘First, it cannot control the timing of the approval of amendments to Macau Gaming Law, neither can it influence the timetable of discussions held in the newly elected Legislative Assembly. ‘In our opinion, not to have the legal and administrative basis for a tender
established in advance constitutes a serious error when the futures of companies operating in Macau’s dominant industry and employing thousands of people are at stake,’ he added.
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VIP gaming results down 75pct from pre-pandemic times
he VIP gaming tally for the second quarter was down 75.4 per cent year-on-year from results reported in the same period of 2019, before the pandemic outbreak, a note from Deutsche Bank Securities indicates. According to data published by the Gaming Inspection and
Co-ordination Bureau (DICJ) last week, VIP results – represented by VIP baccarat – for April to June amounted to MOP8.5 billion or 33.5 per cent of total gaming make-up. During the same period, mass casino market results accounted for about
66.5 per cent of the total casino gaming results in the second quarter of this year or MOP16.8 billion. Mass gaming revenue for the second quarter including slot machines was
down 56.4 per cent relative to 2019. When compared to the previous quarter mass results were up 16.3 per cent, while VIP results were down 6.8 per cent. The decrease in VIP results has been attributed to analysts to several
factors, apart from the drop in visitor numbers caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Since last year the Chinese central government has introduced a series
new series of laws and legal amendments that posed challenges to VIP gaming business, including an amendment on March 1 making it illegal for anyone to assist others in “cross-border gambling”.
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