A fresh public tender for Macau gaming concessions could start “in August or late July,” following the final approval on Tuesday of the bill to revise the city’s gaming law, suggests brokerage JP Morgan Securities (Asia Pacific) Ltd. The institution added that the result of the tender process “could be announced by early November”.
Members of Macau’s Legislative Assembly approved on Tuesday a government-backed bill to revise the city’s gaming law. The amendment bill says that up to six new concessions will be permitted, for a maximum term of 10 years, with a three-year extension possible under certain circumstances.
“The gaming law now provides a basis for the [Macau] government to prepare the public tender for the next gaming concessions (2023-2032),” said JP Morgan analysts DS Kim and Livy Lyu in a Tuesday memo.
“We recall, for the original concession 20 years ago, that public bidding kicked off around 40 days after the [original] law was passed and lasted for about three months,” they added. “Based on this, we expect the bidding to kick off in August (or late July), the result of which could be announced by early November.”
The JP Morgan team said additionally that it expected the city’s existing six casino operators to “have their licenses renewed,” with a “reasonable, if not modest level” of additional non-gaming investment as part of the refreshment of their licences.
The government has said previously that Macau’s gaming law needed to be updated as a linked issue to a fresh public tender process for Macau gaming rights associated with the expiry of the current permits.
The licences of the six Macau casino operators had been due to expire on June 26, but the city’s government had invited the operators to apply to extend them until the end of the calendar year, as the Macau authorities work to prepare a fresh public tender process.
Some of the city’s casino operators have confirmed in recent months that they have committed to pay the Macau government up to MOP47 million (about US$6 million) in return for their Macau gaming licence being extended to December 31 this year.
