Macau published on Monday a series of chief executive orders updating how it authorises the city’s six casino concessionaires to operate foreign exchange (FX) business in their properties.
Based on GGRAsia’s comparison of previous arrangements, the government now no longer specifies any limit on the number of money exchange counters each casino concessionaire is authorised to operate at specific venues.
The new executive orders – one per concessionaire – were signed on August 15 by Macau’s incumbent Chief Executive, Ho Iat Seng, and take effect from Tuesday (August 20). According to the wording of the new orders in Macau’s official languages – Chinese and Portuguese – they give a general authorisation for the casino concessionaires to run money exchange operations within their respective casinos.
The new executive orders state that the place and “technical standards” for installation of money exchange counters are to be set by the city’s gaming regulator, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.
The Monetary Authority of Macao is to be responsible to set the “specific conditions” for casino concessionaires to be able to run money exchange operations.
Macau casino concessionaires are the only entities allowed to run foreign currency exchange counters within their gaming premises, according to the latest and previous government orders.
GGRAsia approached the Monetary Authority of Macao for comment on the purpose of the change of wording regarding foreign exchange authorisation for casino properties. We had not received a reply by the time this story went online.
The Macau government has been stepping up efforts to tackle unauthorised money exchange by third parties within, or near to, gaming properties. It has proposed criminalising such activity in the gaming and non-gaming areas of a casino resort, via an amendment to a draft bill called the “Law to Combat Gambling Crimes”. The matter is to be discussed further in the city’s Legislative Assembly.
Most bets in Macau casinos are denominated in Hong Kong dollars, and a majority of visitors to Macau is from the Chinese mainland, and may have their assets denominated primarily in China’s currency, the yuan.
