Macau publishes draft gambling bill before Reuters re-licenses

HONG KONG (Reuters) – The Macao Legislative Assembly released a draft gambling bill on Wednesday, giving more details to the multi-million dollar casino operators in the world’s largest gaming site.

The 44-page document – published in Chinese and Portuguese – comes after the government announced on Friday that the number of new licenses would be limited to six and that the license period would be reduced by half to 10 years.

The bill has long been awaited by casino executives, investors and analysts.

Six operator licenses, Wynn Macau (OTC :), Sands China (OTC :), MGM China (OTC :), SJM Holdings (OTC :), Galaxy Entertainment and Melco Resorts will all expire in June this year.

The government has said that all existing or potential operators should apply through a new tender process. It has not specified when the operators will have to make an offer or whether the current license period will be extended, according to a notice posted on its website.

The former Portuguese colony is the largest gambling site in the world in terms of betting money.

The document set out what was expected of the new graduates, including support for local small and medium-sized businesses, activities of “public interest” and science and the environment.

The bill sheds more light on Macau’s junket operators, the central men responsible for bringing high-level rollers from mainland China.

If accepted, casino operators would no longer have dedicated junket halls and revenue-sharing agreements between the two parties would be banned.

Macau will continue to issue junket licenses to licensed VIP developers, but will limit them to acting on a single concession. Previously, the Macau junket was licensed to operate in all operators with multiple rooms. This is likely to further dilute their impact.