New junkets: “different” or “obsolete”?

The main changes that could come from the laws currently under review: an end to dedicated junket rooms in Macau’s casinos and altered revenue-sharing arrangements between junkets and Macau’s casino concessionaires that would mean each Macau junket will only be allowed to work with a single Macau casino concessionaire.

The main consequence: the activity of gaming promoters (aka junkets) as we knew it until a few months ago will be very different should these two laws proposed by the Government be approved, since it’s likely few will dare to try and attract customers in China.

The main question: if the Government does not foresee their extinction, what exactly will their role be?

“It is highly unlikely the junkets will have a role to play,” Changbin Wang, Director, Centre for Gaming and Tourism Studies, Macao Polytechnic University believes. According Professor Wang, they will be like the independent agents in Las Vegas (see below).

“Clearly, junkets in Macau will continue to exist, under the name ‘gaming promoters’,” counters Jorge Oliveira Costa, interviewed in this special report.

Between these two extremes are other views gathered by Macau Business: “There will be a few junkets left, but they’ll be a shadow of their former ostentatious, law-breaking selves. They’ll effectively be glorified travel agents,” gaming expert Alidad Tash opines.

For Carlos Siu Lam, Programme Coordinator for the Bachelor of Business Management in Gaming and Recreation Management, “Pending final details related to regulations governing a junket and its operation, I expect junkets will be different. I think junket operators will still exist, perhaps like those operating in Atlantic City.”

Source: https://www.macaubusiness.com/special-report-new-junkets-different-or-obsolete/