3-YEAR BUFFER PERIOD TO START ALONGSIDE NEW CONCESSIONS

March 23, 2022 Macau Crime & Legal

The government has changed its mind and will only start counting the three-year buffer period concerning “satellite casinos” from the time new concession contracts take effect.

The news was disclosed yesterday by lawmaker Chan Chak Mo, president of the Second Standing Committee of the parliament. The committee held a meeting to discuss its opinions on the Amendment Bill of the Gaming Law (the Bill) with government officials, such as Secretary for Economy and Finance Lei Wai Nong.

Not a formal legal concept, the colloquial term “satellite casino” refers to casinos that are not located in real properties owned by the casino operators or concessionaires permitted by law to run gambling business. Slot machine halls, such as Mocha, are not stipulated.

The draft law proposes that concessionaires acquire the ownerships of casino areas within a three-year buffer period. The government has said that it would clarify the areas of each casino. On one hand, this is done to identify how large areas concessionaires with “satellite casinos” need to acquire. On the other hand, it is to allow non-casino areas, such as shopping malls and restaurants, to continue operations.

The current proposal is that the buffer period will depend on the promulgation date of the future law. At the post-meeting press briefing, Chan made the disclosure on the change in the government’s position by saying that this proposed provision will be updated. The clock for the three-year period will only start ticking on the date when the new casino contracts take effect.

In other proposed provisions, Chan said, the way they were written was unclear. He said that the government had used the phrase “as soon as possible” in many of these draft provisions, such as Article 17, to determine concessionaires’ duty of notification. The provisions also come with penalties, such as fines ranging between MOP600,000 and MOP1.5 million.