Macau: Gaming operators provide details on annual casino utilization fees

Macau gaming companies MGM China, Sands China, Wynn Macau, SJM Holdings, Galaxy Entertainment, and Melco Resorts have issued stock filings offering details on the terms involving the annual fees they will pay to the government, as the new ten-year concession kicked off on January 1, 2023. The details coincide with the amount to be paid as annual utilization fees of casino areas.

As reported by local media, gaming concessionaires will pay the Macau government annual utilization fees of MOP750 ($93.5) per square meter of the casino areas they operate, as indicated by stock filings sent by casino operators to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The amount will see a 3.3-fold increase to MOP2,500 ($311) per square meter in 2026.

The concessionaires will pay the Macau government the first MOP750 per square meter annual amount in March 2023. The figure will be adjusted in line with Macau’s average price index in Macau for the second and third years payable in March 2024 and March 2025, as reported by Macau Business.

The value will increase to MOP2,500 per square meter in the fourth year to be settled in March 2026 and then will be adjusted every year from then, also based on the SAR’s average price index.

Wynn Macau indicated that the gaming areas regarding their two casinos, including Wynn Macau and Wynn Palace, will continue to be operated by its concession holder, Wynn Resorts, in the new contract. 

With regards to Sands China's concession holder, Venetian Macau Limited, the related areas are those of casinos Sands, Venetian, The Plaza Macau, The Londoner Macao, and Parisian Macao, as stated in their concession contract.

Grand Lisboa Palace

Meanwhile, SJM Resorts revealed that the total amount it will transfer to the government in 2023 for casino spaces at casinos Grand Lisboa, Grand Lisboa Palace, Casino Lisboa, and Casino Oceanus at Jai- Alai will be MOP69 million ($8.6 million), which will be subject to inflation adjustments in the following two years, before jumping to MOP229.3 million ($28.5 million) in 2026. From then until the last year of the concession contract, 2032, the value will also be adjusted annually based on the city’s average consumer price index.

According to their concession contract, SJM will also be involved in the operation of nine "satellite casinos": Landmark, Grandview, Kam Pek Paradise, Casa Real, Fortuna, Emperor Palace, Ponte 16, L’Arc Macau, and Legend Palace.

Furthermore, MGM China’s subsidiary, MGM Grand Paradise, holder of the Macau gaming concession, will pay for the utilization of areas in two casinos: MGM Macau and MGM Cotai. 

Galaxy Macau operates casino areas in StarWorld, and Broadway; as well as gaming assets held by Galaxy Casino SA, a gaming concession holder also a subsidiary of Galaxy Entertainment Group. Meanwhile, Melco Resorts holds a gaming concession on behalf of Melco Resorts & Entertainment; Altira Resorts; COD Resorts; and Studio City Developments.

Galaxy Macau and Melco, just like the other four gaming operators, will have to pay MOP750 per square meter of their respective casinos in the first year of their concessions in order to keep running them. The two firms confirmed annual fees this week.

In the month of December, Macau casinos posted their worst year since 2004 as China's strict Covid Zero policies wrought havoc on the gambling hub. The Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau said Sunday that gross gaming revenue fell 56% from a year earlier to 3.48 billion patacas ($433 million), slightly below the median estimate of a 57% decline. However, the region has recently seen a loosening of pandemic curbs, thus fueling optimism about a long-awaited recovery for the year ahead.