The order states that the evaluation of the bid will take into account factors such as "experience in operating games of chance", "the interest for the Macau Special Administrative Region arising from the investments" and "the casino management plan".
The bidding committee will also consider "the social responsibilities" that the operators intend to assume, the "supervision and prevention of illegal activities in casinos" and "the plans aimed at expanding the markets of customers in foreign countries".
Each of the competitors will have to pay a deposit of at least 1.22 million euros.
Macau's new gaming law, approved on June 21, provides that the tax burden on casinos, 40% of gross revenues, may be reduced by a maximum of up to 5%, "for reasons of public interest, namely for reasons of expansion of customer markets in foreign countries".
This Wednesday (27), in another dispatch, Ho Iat Seng had already announced the creation of the bidding committee for the attribution of gambling licenses, which includes the secretaries for Administration and Justice, André Cheong Weng Chon, for Economy and Finance, Lei Wai Nong, and for Social Affairs and Culture, Elsie Ao Ieong U.
The commission also includes the director of the Services of Economics and Technological Development, Anton, Tai Kin Ip, the director of the Tourism Services, Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, the director of Inspection and Coordination of Games, Adriano Marques Ho, the director of the Police Judiciary, Sit Chong Meng, and the director of Land and Urban Construction Services, Lai Weng Leong.
Macau, the gambling capital of the world and the only place in China where casino gambling is legal, is experiencing the worst outbreak of covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, which led the authorities to decree the state of immediate prevention and partial confinement, which ordered the closure of casinos for almost two weeks.
Concessionaires have been accumulating unprecedented losses since 2020 and the government has been forced to resort to the extraordinary reserve to respond to the crisis, not least because about 80% of government revenues come from gambling taxes.
Three concessionaires operate in the territory, Sociedade de Jogos de Macau, founded by the magnate Stanley Ho, Galaxy, Wynn, and three sub-concessionaires, MGM, Venetian and Melco.
Source: Notícias ao Minuto
