Your Daily Asia Gaming eBrief: The sting in the tail

Wednesday 19th of January 2022

Good Morning. After lengthy delays, Macau’s government is now wasting no time pushing ahead with its gaming law amendments. On Tuesday, it published its draft gaming bill fleshing out details of the legislation that will shape the next stage in the development for the world’s largest casino hub. After an initial euphoric reaction, investors have turned more wary.

What you need to know

Macau casino shares gave back some of their gains after the government published the city’s new gaming laws, which tighten supervision and capital requirements.

Casinos to pay “premium” if tables/slots fail to generate minimum GGR.
Concessionaires to face three-year annual performance review.
Revenue sharing for junkets, management companies banned.
Operators to inform government of overseas plans of shareholders over 5%.

Maybank estimates that $19.3billion in VIP gross gaming revenue was put at risk with Suncity CEO Alvin Chau’s arrest and other jurisdictions around Asia are likely to target Singapore's premium mass players to plug the gap.

Genting Hong Kong said it may file for provisional liquidation in Bermuda as early as Tuesday after a German court ruled against its petition to force the release of an $88 million backstop payment.

On the radar

Mass table games account for 73% of total Macau table market in 4Q21.

What the papers say

Suncity employee gets 9-month suspended sentence for non-cooperation.
Some 500 Macau public workers under yellow health code status.
Prominent N.Z. sportsman steals $40k to fund gambling addiction.

AGB Intelligence

DEEP DIVE

Stocks give up on concern of sting in gaming law's tail

Macau casino shares gave back some of their gains on Tuesday after the government published the city’s new gaming laws, which tighten supervision and capital requirements. “The details today appear to be more stringent than we had believed,” said Ben Lee, managing partner at IGamiX Management & Consulting. “The positives of no government control on capital distribution and no government representation are being outweighed by other factors that have now become clearer.”