operator 14
Operator focus Macau’s six gaming operators have far exceeded the capital commitments made to the government at the time their licenses were issued, though with just two years to go before their permits expire, the companies are still in the dark about the renewal process.
T
he government carried out an interim review of the industry, which it released in 2016, finding that the six casino operators had invested MOP262 billion ($32.75 billion) in 13 years through to 2014. However, it also made clear that the industry was still over reliant on VIPs and that Macau needed to diversify its economy to include more non-gaming elements. It stressed that it was not interested in further scale and that operators should instead focus on quality and on creating clusters that would facilitate the development of leisure attractions. The report urged operators to make a “concerted effort� to improve upward mobility of locals into
GGR per YEAR and market share
management level positions through better staff training programs and to support the growth of smallto-medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The review gave no indication as to how the license expiry would be handled. At the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Macau Special Administrative Region, we take the opportunity to look at some of the objectives the government had been hoping to achieve with the liberalisation of the gaming industry and to what extent these have been met. We profile each of the six operators, taking a look at their projects, the shift in their market share and gaming to non-gaming revenue over the past five years, as well as their efforts to contribute to the local society through
(units in US$ mn)
(Source: Morgan Stanley)
37,577 32,913 11%
10% 12%
14%
14%
15%
27%
23,042 9% 15%
13,050 0% 4%
11%
9,422
15%
44%
28% 7%
23%
9%
17%
18%
2007 Asia Gaming Briefings | December 2019
8%
14,396 15%
15%
31% 9%
25%
24%
2008
2009
18%
32%
13%
8%
30%
15%
20%
2010
19% 16%
2011
2012
