In 2020, Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) denied that Macau’s authorities were considering adopting the digital yuan inside city casinos, nor allowing digital wallets to be accepted on gaming floors.
Today, however, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority has launched the second phase of its e-HKD Pilot Programme. The programme would explore innovative cases in which digital money use could potentially be expanded to individuals and corporations.
According to Hong Kong news reports, 11 groups of firms from different sectors were selected to join in the second phase to help test offline and cross-border payments. These included Hang Seng Bank, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Bank of China (Hong Kong) and BlackRock.
The tests would focus on the settlement of tokenized assets, programmability and offline payments.
Following news of HKMA’s progress, the Monetary Authority of Macau also revealed plans for a similar prototype system to implement the new “Digital Macau Dollar” by the end of the year.
While there have yet to be details regarding the proposed “Digital Macau Dollar,” the announcement showed there might be a chance for digital currency to be part of Macau’s gaming and gambling sector in the future.
Of cross-borders partnerships, Melco hosted a Macau tourism roadshow in its City of Dreams Mediterranean in Cyprus.
Macau recently saw a rebound in tourism, which drove the increase of its tourism and gaming sector incomes. However, it also brought about a rise in gaming-related crimes.
