The average rate of junket commissions and the total number of gaming tables among local casinos should be maintained at a relatively "reasonable" level, Macao's economic chief told media on Tuesday.
Tam Pak Yuen, secretary for economy and finance of the SAR, reiterated at a public function on Tuesday that it was the Special Administrative Region (SAR) government's decision to tighten Macao' s gaming sector, and, for the time being, it is reviewing and assessing the development of the industry, and will continue to listen to the opinions from the casino operators.
Last month, Macao's six gaming concessionaires and sub-concessionaires sat face-to-face for the first time to discuss gaming market regulations in a special meeting initiated by the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) government. Tam chaired the meeting as a government representative.
During the meeting most of the gaming operators agreed that a ceiling should be imposed on junket commissions, but opinions differed when it came to the number of gaming tables allowed for each concessionaire.
"Gaming table number in Macao will be frozen at the current level of over 4,000 until relevant evaluation works were completed," noted Tam.
He also said that the SAR government believed the rate of junket commissions should not go beyond 1.25 percent and expected that casino operators can keep the rate at this level "with self-discipline and consensus", otherwise, the authorities may adopt legal measures to regulate the rate.
The government's announcement is more or less similar to those proposed by local gaming mogul Stanley Ho's at the meeting.
Ho who owns SJM, the only concessionaire from Macao, has proposed that maximum commission rate and gaming table number for each concessionaire or sub-concessionaire be limited at 1.25 percent and 1,000 respectively.
But Ho's proposal was not welcomed by all the other operators, as he said after the meeting that the Las Vegas Sands (LVS), the representative of which disagreed with him on most of the issues brought up at the meeting, has tried before to jack the commission up to 1.5 percent, which he described as "nonsense".
LVS' Asian Region President Stephen Weaver, representing Sands at the meeting, argued that table number and commission rate should be decided by the market.
Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd's Crown Macao casino resort, has shaken up the market this year, as it increased its maximum junket commission to 1.35 percent, reportedly one of the highest rates in the local market. The deal took Crown from a total market share of4.9 percent in July last year to company executives declaring it Macao's biggest VIP house in February this year with a 21 percent share of the high-rollers market.
To further discuss the matter, the casino operators will be summoned to another meeting by the government this month, according to Tam.
Source: Xinhua
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