Macau's Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau has set out how it will conduct a mid-term review of the city's six casino concessions, formalising a process that until now had been described only in general terms in the 2022 re-tendering contracts.

A notice published on the regulator's website on Monday says the review will cover the first three years of each 10-year concession and will weigh progress against the non-gaming investment commitments the operators made at tender.

The scoring matrix

Operators will be assessed across four categories: non-gaming capital expenditure, diversification of source markets, local employment quotas and responsible gaming compliance. Each concessionaire will receive a public letter-grade ranking, a step up in transparency from the previous cycle.

The bureau can require remediation plans where targets are missed, and in serious cases, require additional commitments to be formalised in supplementary contracts.

What the operators have pledged

Combined non-gaming capital commitments for the six concessionaires total MOP108.7 billion over the 10-year term. Each has opened at least one new non-gaming venue in the past 18 months, ranging from theatres to themed retail districts.

"We welcome the clarity," one operator executive told Inside Gaming News on condition of anonymity. "What we wanted to avoid was a vague assessment that could be politicised at short notice. The published matrix makes expectations explicit."

Timing

The bureau said the mid-term report will be published in the fourth quarter, with any remediation measures confirmed before the end of the year.