Macao seeks to regulate gaming market

Macao's six gaming concessionaires and sub-concessionaires Wednesday 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.

High level representatives of the six gaming operators, including local gaming magnate Stanley Ho and Las Vegas Sands' Asian Region President Steven Weaver, attended the meeting with top government officials.

The meeting was originally aimed to talk about future development of the industry as the SAR government has decided to bar any new comer to enter the city's gaming sector.

But it turned out that the representatives mainly focused on issues concerning junket commissions and gaming table number, according to Tam Pak Yuen, secretary for economy and finance of the SAR government, who also attended the meeting.

Tam said that most of the representatives agreed at the meeting that the commission should have a lower maximum rate than the current market level, while opinions differed when it came to the number of gaming tables allowed for each concessionaire.