{"id":18223,"date":"2016-05-09T12:39:05","date_gmt":"2016-05-09T20:39:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=18223"},"modified":"2016-05-09T12:39:43","modified_gmt":"2016-05-09T20:39:43","slug":"macao-no-more-tables-for-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/macao-no-more-tables-for-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Macao: No more tables for you"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Macao<\/strong> 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<\/strong> was built out. Guess again.\u00a0Secretary for Economy &\u00a0Finance \"macau-casinos_1\"Lionel Leong<\/strong> said there would be no change in the cap<\/a> unless\u00a0\u201cthere is very big change in the local market or a huge social demand emerges.\u201d 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<\/strong> boss — Angela Leong<\/strong> made some noises of dismay that the policy was short-sighted and didn’t take into account the casino industry’s future needs.<\/p>\n

In one of those five-year plans of which China<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n

Across the ocean, Steve Wynn<\/strong> acknowledged that all the manic growth activity in Macao had an inflationary effect and, to combat this cost-of-living increase,\u00a0\u201cthe government [is] \"wynnputting pressure on us to keep raising wages, which we have all done.\u201d Wynn chose to accentuate the Macanese positives, saying,\u00a0\u201cWe have some idea of what the review had to\u00a0say 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\u2026 millennium.\u201d Engaging in a bit of revisionist history, Wynn said,\u00a0\u201cIn our case, I think we\u2019ve led the market because of our stock ownership and other things we\u2019ve done, and the other hotels have also been rather aggressive in responding to the government.\u201d Gee, anybody remember a certain Steven Wynn going postal<\/a> on the Chinese\u00a0regime?<\/p>\n

As for the current economic review, Wynn Macau<\/strong> Executive Director Ian Coughlan<\/strong> downplayed it, saying\u00a0“it seems to be a very fact-driven analysis of what\u2019s happened over the last 10\u00a0years, and we\u2019re not expecting any negative aspect to it. It\u2019s really just a health check to see where we\u2019ve been, what we promised and what we\u2019ve delivered as an industry and sets some markers for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MacaoIn other gaming policy, Macao banned proxy betting<\/a> by mobile phone at VIP tables. From now on, you will have to be physically present to wager. Sands China<\/strong> said it already had forbidden the practice. Since proxy betting represents only 5% to 10% of VIP wagering, Wynn Resorts<\/strong> downplayed the effect of the new edict, as did MGM China<\/strong> CEO Grant Bowie<\/strong>, who said,\u00a0\u201cWhatever 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

* As Caesars Entertainment Operating Co<\/strong>. drags parent Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> toward Chapter 11, Big Caesars has — in the great tradition of Fontainebleau<\/strong> and others — appointed a chief restructuring officer<\/a>. And not just any old bureaucrat but a retired federal bankruptcy judge, Robert Gerber<\/strong>. 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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.\u00a0Secretary for Economy &\u00a0Finance Lionel Leong said … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14,7,62,11,25,12,61,32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18223"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18223"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18225,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18223\/revisions\/18225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}