Macau Legal Gambling Age

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Last Updated: November 6, 2014 – Macau is now the richest casino destination in the world. In 2013, their 35 casinos (with 8 more casinos on its way) generated USD $45 billion (HKD $348.9 billion) in gross gambling wins. This is more than every casino in the entire United States combined. It is because they are the only jurisdiction of Chinese sovereignty with legal casino gambling that we achieved such success. In 2012, they had 25,055,704 visitors from Chinese jurisdictions (Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan) which accounted for 89.22% of our overall visits.

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Under article 13 of the Macau Gaming Law, the maximum term of a gaming concession is 20 years, which must be clearly set under the concession contract. However, in case a concession is granted for a shorter period of time, one or two additional extensions are legally permitted up to the said limit of 20 years. Casino games of fortune, i.e. Games played at casinos (or casino gambling), in Macau, as an evolving world-wide major gaming market.2 In Macau, gaming is a legal monopoly of the Executive of Macau SAR, and the exploitation of this activity 1 Alexandre L.D. Pereira, ‘Casino Gaming Law in Macao’, in Law, Regulation, and Control Issues. Although gambling is illegal in mainland China, Macau is a gambling haven. 50% of Macau’s revenue is made up from gambling alone. In 2018 the city made almost $38 billion.

While this article is placed in our section: Gambling Laws by Country it would be difficult to understand Macau without also understanding our unique history and culture. For that reason, this article covers our laws in brief, a detailed historical account of Macau gambling during our 442 years as a Portuguese administration and concludes by touching on the conversion to Macau SAR of China which began 20 December 1999.

Macau Legal Gambling Age

Macau Gambling Laws

The gambling laws of Macau are rather complex but only for those in the gambling business. In short, as a player – all you really need to know is locals must be age 21 to gamble in casinos, age 18 for other forms of gambling, and cheating is a serious crime. Other than that, not much is illegal here as a player.

We have casino, horse race betting, greyhounds, sports betting, lottery and poker rooms and even prostitution is allowed. Another interesting fact is in 2011 the government acknowledged Macau has no online gambling laws. It is in no way illegal to use websites such as www.bet365.com from your Macau residence or hotel room to play online poker, casino games, bet sports or races.

As China Gambling Law, Hong Kong Gambling Law, and Taiwan Gambling Law prohibit most forms of online gambling this is good information to know. If you live in one of these places, you can open a Bet365 account at home and during your trips to Macau you can do online gambling 100% legally.

Getting back on the topic, Wikipedia Entry: Macau Gambling Law explains that our gaming law is not a branch of law but rather a large collection of legal topics related to gambling that include constitutional law, administrative law, tax law, company law, contract law and criminal law. Most of what we have is gaming regulations such as: what games casinos can offer, their guidelines, tax rates, licensing, and complaint resolution. Our criminal law covers cheating, money laundering, and running non-licensed gambling houses. Our civil laws deals with contracts and it does state gambling debt is enforceable.

This is a huge topic that Macau University offers a Bachelor’s degree course on. If you have a sincere interest their course overview contains a list of laws you can research. Many laws are also referenced in this 13 Page Macau Casino Law Report. The actual laws themselves can be found by market segment on this page of DIJC’s website. DICJ is Direcção de Inspecção e Coordenação de Jogos which is Portuguese for Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau. They are our industry’s regulator and the laws are only available in Chinese and Portuguese. After reading the rest of this article you might better understand why.

Macau Culture and History

An important thing to understand is nowhere else did two vastly different cultures co-mingle longer than in Macau.

In the photos shown, the one on the bottom right is Sanedo Square. This is a 2km walk from major casinos Grand Lisboa (shown in the background of the photo top left) and Wynn Macau. Along the way you’ll find both low-end and high-end shopping and food ranging from noodle vendors to Asian street food and western fast food to both Portuguese and Chinese fine dining.

Sanedo Square is one of many UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Macau. If you didn’t know otherwise (and other than the fact most everyone is Chinese) standing here – you could easily convince yourself that you were in Europe. If you walk upwards you will find the amazing ruins of St. Paul also shown in the photos and a historic museum. Between all this are Asian shops selling beef jerky, street food vendors and all sorts of things that are clearly Chinese.

This all explained by the fact Macau was the oldest and last European colony in Asia. Settlers came here as early as 1513, and beginning in 1557 this was a trade-port city leased by the Chinese empire to Portugal. In 1887 we became a Portuguese colony. During this era we operated similar to being our own country and in 1906 began printing the Macanese Pataca (MOP) which is still the currency used today.

On 20 December 1999 Macau sovereignty was transferred to China. Today we are a special administrative region (SAR) of China with our own passports, currency, government, laws and courts. While considered “technically” the same country, residents of Mainland China need a visa to visit Macau – something not required for visitors from Hong Kong or Taiwan.

The facts we border Mainland China’s most populated province Guangdong (广东省), are accessible by the South China Sea, and are a short boat ferry ride from Hong Kong, and have legal gambling, prostitution, and many attractions – then and still today – has Macau as the hottest spot to visit in the region.

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“Online Gambling Laws for Macau and Cultures”

Our history with gambling dates to the very early days of Portuguese rule. In the sixteenth century gambling was popular with workers emigrant from Mainland China. As there were no laws to prohibit them, gambling stalls were available all over the streets, and some were even ran by major bankers. The games played were exclusively fantan (番攤) and Pai Gow (牌九). By the 1800s Cussec (CLU-CLU) which is a variation of what the west knows as Sic bo (骰寶) and is also known as tai sai (大細) and dai siu (大小) became one of the most popular games played in the streets.

Gambling here was tax free and unregulated until the British gained control of Hong Kong in 1842. The fact this nearby seaport was British ruled meant Macau’s long dominance as the place connecting the Far East and the West was nearly diminished. To rebound, our Portuguese government declared all games of chance legal in 1847. This was a period where much the rest of the world (both Asia and Europe) were passing laws to prohibit the same. This kept Macau highly relevant and stabilized the economy.

Starts of Gambling Monopolies

In 1877 the government moved to tax gambling. They declared fantan a tax free game, but required the highest bidder wishing to control the industry pay tax to the Public Treasury. The first year the winning bid amount was 120,000 patacas. From this period on, taxing gambling operators became the Macau government’s primary income.

The next segment of gambling issued a monopoly was horse racing. While races existed here since 1842, it was only in 1927 that Club Internacional de Recreio e Corridas de Macau, Limitada who had just been granted the monopoly held their first organized race at the newly built racecourse Areia Preta. Shortly later, in 1932 what is now Yat Yuen Canidrome was built to host greyhound racing organized by an alliance of Chinese and Americans who would later create Macao Canine Club.

The introduction of roulette clubs in the 1910s brought tension. While all games of chance were legal in Macau, these clubs were competing against the forms of gambling the government taxed. This is was a topic of on and off dispute. Over a period of two decades some roulette clubs shutdown due to pressure from concession holders and police. In 1934 the matter was settled when all games of chances were placed into a single monopoly. The highest bids were 1.9 million patacas in 1935 and 2.5 million patacas in 1936.

In 1937 the Second Sino-Japanese War (which in part led to World War II) caused a decline in gambling. To secure immediate funds a multiple year casino concession was awarded to Tai Heng Company. They would control gambling in Macau from March 1936 to March 1962. During their era a new casino at Hotel Central became the most popular in Macau.

After Mainland China banned gambling in 1949, business spiked and Tai Heng Company added western games such as baccarat and boule (a variant of roulette). While casino continued, horse racing and greyhound industry was suspended entirely due to World War II.

Macau’s rebound, from tough conditions the war had left the region in, came in February 1961. This is when the governor declared Macau a permanent gaming region. From this point on Macau became a low-tax region that considered gaming and tourism its primary economic activity.

Stanley Ho Era

While it is easy to credit the change to Chinese sovereignty and the breakup of the monopoly system for Macau’s success of the millennium decade, much credit goes to Stanley Ho who age 91 is still a major force in Macau gambling. In 1961 he formed a company with then Hong Kong tycoon Henry Fok, renowned gambler Yip Hon and his brother-in-law Teddy Yip (who was married Stanley Ho’s sister Susie Ho) called Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau (STDM). They outbid Tai Heng Company and gained the casino monopoly concession. Due to three concession renewals they controlled the Macau gambling industry from 30 March 1962 to 8 March 2000. They still to this day own the most casinos in Macau.

Much of STDM 1960s operations have only limited remains. Their first casino opened in 1962 and was where the rundown Hotel Estoril in Macau City now stands. This casino closed in 1975. If you are into casino history here is a must view post; to read it: use Google Translate Portuguese to English.

In 1963 STDM opened the once famous Macau Palace (Floating Casino) which is where the 1974 James Bond film – the Man with a Golden Gun -was filmed. It should not be confused with the current Macau Palace. The old one was towed away in 2007. What is still operational is their built 1963 casino dedicated to Chinese games, Kaem Pek Casino.

Visible all over Macau is the Stanley Ho efforts of 1970 and beyond. While building began in 1964, it was 1970 that Casino Lisboa first opened. This was the nicest hotel in Macau for three decades. While today there are multi-billion dollar casinos decorating Macau Peninsula and Cotai Strip including the world’s largest casino and a second with a similar name (Grand Lisboa opened 11 February 2007), the old Lisboa is still standing and relevant. Today it might be known as where the hookers hang out, but the taxes this single casino paid during the 1990s decade was one-quarter of all the tax the Macau government collected from any source and accounted for one-sixth of the total GDP.

In 1975 Jai Alai casino was built to replace Casino Estoril. In 1984 STDM opened a fifth casino which today is known as Grand Lapa. Between 1985 and 1996 the casinos still open today of Diamond Casino at the Holiday Inn, Kingsway Casino and the private Legends Club all opened. Also during this period Victoria and Marina casinos opened which were later closed or renamed. There was also a casino in what is now Regency Hotel (Taipa) bringing the 1996 count to nine casinos in Macau all operated by Stanley Ho’s STDM.

The primary focus of STDM was of course to attract gamblers from the region. They made great contributions to upgrading marine travel. They did however give some focus to attracting players from other Asian countries. Stanley Ho himself invested in airline companies. Also in the 1970s they expanded the games offered by introducing western-style slots machines and in the 1980s added Pachinko – the most popular form of gambling in Japan. By the 1990’s tourists from Thailand, Japan, Korea and India were also aware of Macau as one of the top sin cities of the region.

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