When Macao authorities imposed caps on table-game allotments, Western casino companies condescendingly said that the Chinese didn’t really mean it and would lift the caps as the Cotai Strip was built out. Guess again. Secretary for Economy & Finance 
Lionel Leong said there would be no change in the cap unless “there is very big change in the local market or a huge social demand emerges.” In other words, pretty much never, barring a massive reversal in the local economy. Occidental operators kept mum but legislator — and Sociedade de Jogos de Macau boss — Angela Leong made some noises of dismay that the policy was short-sighted and didn’t take into account the casino industry’s future needs.
In one of those five-year plans of which China is so beloved, table-game growth will be pegged at 3% until the end of 2022. The government has also let it be known that it wants to see non-gaming revenue growth to 9% of casino revenue by 2020, up from the current 6.6%, a “scientific decision,” whatever that means. While allowing that the mandate was “not easy,” Leong also noted that the government didn’t want 9% to be a stopping point, only an interim goal.
Across the ocean, Steve Wynn acknowledged that all the manic growth activity in Macao had an inflationary effect and, to combat this cost-of-living increase, “the government [is] 
putting pressure on us to keep raising wages, which we have all done.” Wynn chose to accentuate the Macanese positives, saying, “We have some idea of what the review had to say in general terms, and that was that the upgrade, the expansion of the appeal of the Macau market was successful in every way; either met or exceeded the goals that were set early in the… millennium.” Engaging in a bit of revisionist history, Wynn said, “In our case, I think we’ve led the market because of our stock ownership and other things we’ve done, and the other hotels have also been rather aggressive in responding to the government.” Gee, anybody remember a certain Steven Wynn going postal on the Chinese regime?
As for the current economic review, Wynn Macau Executive Director Ian Coughlan downplayed it, saying “it seems to be a very fact-driven analysis of what’s happened over the last 10 years, and we’re not expecting any negative aspect to it. It’s really just a health check to see where we’ve been, what we promised and what we’ve delivered as an industry and sets some markers for the future.”
In other gaming policy, Macao banned proxy betting by mobile phone at VIP tables. From now on, you will have to be physically present to wager. Sands China said it already had forbidden the practice. Since proxy betting represents only 5% to 10% of VIP wagering, Wynn Resorts downplayed the effect of the new edict, as did MGM China CEO Grant Bowie, who said, “Whatever happens in the notion of proxy, it will probably be yet another continuation of pressure for the junkets themselves, but it probably is not going to be that significant for any of the [casino] operators, certainly, not that significant for us.”
* As Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. drags parent Caesars Entertainment toward Chapter 11, Big Caesars has — in the great tradition of Fontainebleau and others — appointed a chief restructuring officer. And not just any old bureaucrat but a retired federal bankruptcy judge, Robert Gerber. Caesars could be on the hook for as much as $5.1 billion, after a court-appointed examiner found in favor of creditors who accused Caesars of fraudulent conveyances. Caesars is trying to hold litigation at bay but the legal tide has been steadily against it.
