Macau’s SAR Government will consider increasing the period of transition before casino licence holders (concessionaires) will need to take full, transparent ownership over satellite casinos.
This is the latest in a line of comments made by the Legislative Assembly’s Second Standing Committee Chair Chan Chak Mo, following continued bouts of evaluative discussions over the future of gaming laws in Macau.
A three-year transitional grace period had initially been touted for concessionaires to tackle transparency issues over the ownership of satellite casinos; essentially mobile casinos that travel from place to place.
The law was introduced to tackle operating legality; where satellite venues may operate on unlicensed, unregulated land.
This has caused great contention and debate for Macau’s Second Standing Committee, which faces warnings of mass unemployment and revenue losses from sector representatives — should satellite casinos be forced to shut down.
Issues have also been raised over joint ownership statuses of concessionaires and their outsourced satellites, particularly the specifics of how the law will be applied in individual cases, whether that be for minority or majority stakeholders.
President of the Second Standing Committee Chan Chak Mo said: “The Government does not want to see satellite casinos shut down; they want to reduce the impact to those casinos... The Secretary said they want all satellite casinos to continue operations. Of course, these new concessionaires will have to acquire these assets.
“They don’t want anyone to become unemployed because of this… That’s why the three-year grace period was provided to reduce this impact. Maybe some people think three years is not sufficient… Legislators asked if the period could be increased to five years. The government did not say if it would do so, just consider it.”
"The Secretary said they want all satellite casinos to continue operations. Of course, these new concessionaires will have to acquire these assets" Second Standing Committee Chair, Chan Chak Mo
SkyCity identified with multiple “failures” in dealing with problem gambling
SkyCity Auckland Casino has been ruled to have committed many failures in addressing gambling harm, despite being given earlier warnings to rectify the issues.
These failings come from a report made by New Zealand’s Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) in 2019 which was finalised, but not published, last year.
However, DIA has reportedly found the casino to have failed in nine out of 10 compliance areas, citing staff as dismissive of gambling issues and inept at identifying excluded gamblers.
The DIA claimed a banned gamer was able to play at the casino for 14 and 28-hour strings without detection for security staff.
The DIA findings found a slew of other deficiencies at the Auckland casino, including insufficient harm and risk assessments, insufficient staff numbers and a failure to identify gambling patterns among different ethnic groups.
Arrow Gaming’s technology patent portfolio expands in four Asian countries
The technology company, which specialises in acquiring, developing and commercialising innovative gaming systems, now holds 67 fully approved patents internationally, in addition to 22 patents pending.
Specifically, the claims include head-to-head play, either on local machines found in casinos, or online. Other intended uses of the patents include scope for esports, pinball, sports betting and virtual reality.
G2E Asia Expo 2022 moving?
Recent updates to the G2E Asia website suggest the trade show is set to move, both in time and place.
Originally slated to take place from 30 August to 1 September at The Venetian Macao, the latest webpage update has set a countdown for 24 August to 26 August, at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.
This update has yet to be confirmed by expo organisers. However, if true, the change would represent a move to a venue far less affected by current Covid-19 measures.
There was no official confirmation from G2E Asia organisers and it has since been changed back.
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