Session Title

Session 1-3-C: The World’s Biggest Casino Market

Presentation Type

Event

Location

Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada

Start Date

28-5-2019 1:45 PM

End Date

28-5-2019 3:10 PM

Disciplines

Gaming Law

Abstract

Will Junket Business Change Significantly in Macao?

Changbin Wang

Professor, Gaming Teaching & Research Center

Macao Polytechnic Institute

Abstract

The unique junket business which has lasted nearly four decades in Macao and has brought more than a half, actually 60%-70% in most of the years, of the gaming revenues to Macao since 2002 is jeopardized due to a couple of factors. First, Macao government has put on stricter regulations after Huang Shan, a junket who brought high rollers from Mainland China to Macao, disappeared in 2014 leaving massive debts, and an accountant in the Dore-operated VIP room at the Wynn Macau casino stole a huge amount of money from it in 2015. Stricter regulations have put quite a number of junkets out of business. Second, the recent judicial judgement from the Court of Appeals demands a concessionaire to take joint liability with one of its junkets in terms of gaming business. This would likely intimidate the concessionaires to collaborate with the junkets and make the concessionaires to intervene more in the specific business that the junkets operate. Third, the central government of Mainland China is showing more and more concern on the junket activities which are actually forbidden in criminal law of Mainland China. If the central government takes more severe measures to put down junket business, as it did to the representatives of an Australian casino in 2016, and encourages the Macao government to take actions in this regard, the junket business will be facing significant challenges. The paper will discuss the factors above and analyze the possible trends of junket business in Macao.

Keywords

Junket, Macao, Regulation

Author Bios

Dr. WANG Changbin is director and Professor at Gaming Teaching & Research Center, Macao Polytechnic Institute (MPI). He focuses his research on gaming law and regulations in Macao. He has published four Monographs, including Macao Gaming Law (2013) and Major Issues of Macao’s Gaming Law (2012), and numerous research articles in academic journals and newspapers. Before Joining MPI in 2009, Prof. Wang had worked in the central government of Mainland China as a law expert. He used to serve as a drafting committee member of Chinese Anti-Monopoly Law.

Funding Sources

No funding needed.

Competing Interests

No competing interests with this research.

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May 28th, 1:45 PM May 28th, 3:10 PM

Will Junket Business Change Significantly in Macao?

Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada

Will Junket Business Change Significantly in Macao?

Changbin Wang

Professor, Gaming Teaching & Research Center

Macao Polytechnic Institute

Abstract

The unique junket business which has lasted nearly four decades in Macao and has brought more than a half, actually 60%-70% in most of the years, of the gaming revenues to Macao since 2002 is jeopardized due to a couple of factors. First, Macao government has put on stricter regulations after Huang Shan, a junket who brought high rollers from Mainland China to Macao, disappeared in 2014 leaving massive debts, and an accountant in the Dore-operated VIP room at the Wynn Macau casino stole a huge amount of money from it in 2015. Stricter regulations have put quite a number of junkets out of business. Second, the recent judicial judgement from the Court of Appeals demands a concessionaire to take joint liability with one of its junkets in terms of gaming business. This would likely intimidate the concessionaires to collaborate with the junkets and make the concessionaires to intervene more in the specific business that the junkets operate. Third, the central government of Mainland China is showing more and more concern on the junket activities which are actually forbidden in criminal law of Mainland China. If the central government takes more severe measures to put down junket business, as it did to the representatives of an Australian casino in 2016, and encourages the Macao government to take actions in this regard, the junket business will be facing significant challenges. The paper will discuss the factors above and analyze the possible trends of junket business in Macao.