Macau maintains junkets cap at 50 for 2025, tightens credit rules

Macau's Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) has announced that the number of licensed gaming promoters, or junkets, permitted in the gambling hub will be capped at 50 for 2025, maintaining the same limit as the current year.

Despite this cap, less than half of the permitted quota is currently utilized, with 22 licensed junkets as of June 11, according to the latest data from the regulator. The industry has seen an 85 percent decline in junkets over the past decade.

The city's gaming law framework, which includes specific statutes for junkets, also imposes a cap on the number of junkets each of the six casino operators can collaborate with. This limit varies by operator, as determined by the Secretary for Economy and Finance.

For 2025, Sands China Ltd and SJM Holdings Ltd will be allowed to partner with up to 12 junkets each. MGM China Holdings Ltd and Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd will each have a cap of eight junkets, while Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd and Wynn Macau Ltd will each be limited to five junket partners.

Under Macau's updated regulations, each junket licensee must provide a guarantee of MOP1.5 million ($186,000), and the highest commission rate for junkets is capped at 1.25 percent of the total net rolling amount. Additionally, the minimum corporate capital required for junket operators is MOP10 million ($1.24 million).

A proposed law currently under review by the Legislative Assembly's 2nd Standing Committee aims to change the credit-granting practices in the gaming sector. If passed, the new law will prohibit junket operators from granting credit in casinos, a practice currently allowed. Instead, only casino concessionaires will be permitted to provide gambling credit to patrons starting August 1.

The DICJ has also updated the cap on the number of "collaborators," or sub-agents, allowed in the market for 2025. The cap will remain at 250, the same as this year. As of April 24, only seven collaborators were authorized to work in Macau, according to public information from the regulator.

In the previous year, 235 junket operators were registered in Macau, collectively contributing around 60 percent of casino revenues. The updated regulations and caps reflect Macau's ongoing efforts to regulate and stabilize its gaming industry.