Inside Asian Gaming

IAG SEP 2020年9月 亞博匯 48 Lai Tong Sang. Tensions quickly escalated and by the late 1990s had developed into a full-scale turf war. “By this stage there were 10,000 of these characters hanging around the city, and that’s when the trouble started, with people shooting each other over customers,” explains Murray. “In the end it was Stanley Ho himself who sorted out the warring factions. He said to them, ‘Listen, stop shooting, put down your guns; we’ve got an operation for you, so start doing business in the hotel and stop fighting. It’s up to you to decide if you want to ruin this opportunity. You bring in the players, we’ll sort out the license, we’ll provide the dealers, we’ll provide a fair game. Knock yourself out by bringing in as many VIP players as you like.” Nevertheless, by the time the newly formed Macau SAR announced plans in 2001 to end STDM’s casino monopoly and offer up to three gaming concessions in an international tender, it had become abundantly clear that the junket business needed some form of proper regulatory oversight. IN FOCUS LAW AND ORDER Junkets, officially referred to as gaming promoters, were first incorporated into Macau gaming law 16/2001, which outlined specific requirements for the operation of these promotors including tax liabilities and certain obligations required of official company representatives. “Games promoters,” the law states, refers to “the promotion agents of games of fortune in casinos, that carry out their activity by offering facilities to players, namely in what refers to transports, lodging, food and entertainment, receiving from a concessionaire a commission or other remuneration as payment.” Anticipating the award of gaming concessions to new operators the following year and the inevitable presence of junket rooms within their premises, Law 16/2001 stipulated that the activity of gaming promoters would be subject to licensing and government inspection and that they must register with each concessionaire where they intended to operate, that a list of all “collaborators” or agents up