People wait to get in outside Wynn Palace, U.S. casino tycoon Steve Wynn's newest resort, during its opening in Macau, China August 22, 2016. REUTERS\/Bobby Yip<\/p>\n
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HONG KONG, June 15 (Reuters) - Macau's legislature released a final draft of a highly anticipated gaming bill on Wednesday raising the tax rate and giving officials far greater oversight into operations in the world's biggest gambling hub.<\/p>\n
The 55-page document, released in Portuguese and Chinese on the legislature's website, comes as the government is due to formally sign a six-month licence extension for casino operators on June 23, local broadcaster TDM reported.<\/p>\n
The moves are expected ahead of casino license expirations due this month. The extension, to Dec. 31, allows more time for a highly anticipated rebidding process in the Chinese special administrative region, the only place in China where gambling in casinos is legal.<\/p>\n
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Macau's casino bill, which marks the biggest reform in two decades for the former Portuguese colony, will likely be approved by lawmakers this month.<\/p>\n
The final version is similar to an initial draft first circulated in January but clarifies that casino tax on gross revenues will increase to 40% from 39%, although the chief executive has discretion to reduce it by up to 5% if operators succeed in attracting non-mainland Chinese gamblers. L4N2TY23L<\/p>\n
Casino operators must have 5 billion patacas ($618.43 million) in cash at all times during the 10 year license period.<\/p>\n
Macau's casino operators - Wynn Macau (1128.HK), Sands China (1928.HK), MGM China (2282.HK), Galaxy Entertainment (0027.HK) and Melco Resorts - all have sufficient liquidity with only SJM Holdings needing to beef up liquidity, according to DS Kim, analyst at JP Morgan in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
All operators will also need to pay 47 million patacas ($5.81 million) for the extension.<\/p>\n
Macau's government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n
In 2019 Macau raked in $36.5 billion from its casinos, more than six times as much as the Las Vegas strip.<\/p>\n
Since 2020 however Macau's casinos have been hurt by coronavirus travel restrictions, which have curbed visitors, and crackdowns on the opaque junket industry.<\/p>\n
Beijing, increasingly wary of Macau's acute reliance on gambling, has not yet indicated how the licence rebidding process will be conducted.<\/p>\n
($1 = 8.0850 patacas)<\/p>\n
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Reporting by Farah MasterEditing by Kenneth Maxwell and Peter Graff<\/p>\n
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.<\/p>\n
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Macau finalises gaming bill ahead of casino license extension - Reuters<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" People wait to get in outside Wynn Palace, U.S. casino tycoon Steve Wynn's newest resort, during its opening in Macau, China August 22, 2016 Continue reading