Genting Bids for Macao’s Gaming Concession, but Unlikely to Threaten Existing Players

Malaysia Genting Group’s participation in Macao’s gaming concession bidding surprised the market, which brings some uncertainty as to whether the existing players will win renewed licenses, given Genting’s strong presence in global gaming markets and successful track record in diversification of non-gaming business. Nevertheless, we think Genting’s bid is unlikely to threaten the existing players’ competitiveness in the tendering process, as the six have put two-decade efforts in supporting Macao’s economy and employment, which include more than two years’ downturn resulting from COVID-19 restrictions. We think it is unlikely for the Macao government to rule out any of the six, if they could meet the requirements of the new concession tendering process. As such, our base-case scenario is unchanged, which assumes all six existing casino operators would be granted new gaming concessions, and we keep our fair value estimates of Macao casino operators unchanged.