With the authorities cracking down on junket operators, several sector leaders have voiced the view that junkets in Macao are doomed, Asia Gaming Brief reports.
The numbers don’t lie. In 2014, there were 235 registered junket operators – also known as gaming promoters – in Macao, contributing around 60 percent of the city’s casino revenues.
However, their number was slashed to just 18 this year, according to data published by the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.
Junkets operators offer lavish travel incentives to high-roller customers to get them to play at certain casinos. These gambling trips are called “junkets.”
The president of the Macau Professional Association of Gaming Promoters, U Io Hung, told Asia Gaming Brief that he believed the cap on junket licences would turn VIP players off the SAR and see them flock to less regulated casinos in Southeast Asia instead.
[See more: The number of licensed junket operators has been halved for 2024]
He also noted that some Macao-based junket operators had already relocated their businesses to Southeast Asia.
Under amendments to Macao’s gaming law, junket operators can now only partner with a single gaming concessionaire.
Their commission is capped at 1.25 percent of rolling chip turnover (five percent of which must be paid as tax to the government), and they are prohibited from sharing casino revenue.
The new policies are in line with the SAR efforts to rebrand itself as a non-gaming tourism destination and business hub.
Recent years have also seen the junket sector beset with scandal, including the fall of “junket king” Alvin Chau, who was given an 18 year sentence in January 2023 for financial wrongdoing, and former Macao junket operator Ji Xiaobo being declared a criminal kingpin by a Chinese court.
