{"id":188214,"date":"2021-10-07T09:36:31","date_gmt":"2021-10-07T16:36:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=188214"},"modified":"2021-10-08T13:56:16","modified_gmt":"2021-10-08T20:56:16","slug":"theres-no-legal-precedent-to-regulate-macau-dividends-says-law-firm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/theres-no-legal-precedent-to-regulate-macau-dividends-says-law-firm\/","title":{"rendered":"Macau Casino Dividend Proposal ‘Has No Parallel’ in Established Policy, Says Law Firm"},"content":{"rendered":"

A proposal by Macau authorities that, if implemented, would require casino operators to obtain government approval prior to distributing dividends to investors has no established precedent in the special administrative region’s (SAR) legal framework, according to a local law firm.<\/p>\n

\"Macau
A visitor photographs Macau’s Parisian Hotel, seen above. In Macau, authorities want to regulate how casino companies pay dividends. A law firm says there’s no precedent for that. (Image: Reuters<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last month, shares of concessionaires<\/a> in the world’s largest casino center tumbled after authorities there announced the start of a new consultation period that includes an array of new policy pitches. Global investors are interpreting that as leading to more oversight and regulation. Among those considerations is a rule whereby government approval would be required to pay dividends to shareholders.<\/p>\n

A new report penned by attorneys Rui Pinto Proen\u00e7a and Rui Filipe Olivera of MdME Lawyers notes existing Macau Civil Code doesn’t accommodate a government-controlled dividend policy.<\/p>\n

The pursuit of profit as the ultimate goal of a private company is embedded in its legal definition prescribed by the Macau Civil Code, and no shareholder can be deprived of its right to share in a company\u2019s profits,\u201d said the lawyers. \u201cUnder the current legal framework, payment of dividends is subject only to shareholders’ approval.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

MdME says the only restriction on shareholders’ discretion pertains to a minimum percentage of profits that must be distributed in the form of dividends, not a cap on how the size of those payouts.<\/p>\n

Dividends not Necessarily at Odds with Macau Goals<\/h2>\n

One of the primary reasons Macau stocks slumped last month, including a day in which about $20 billion in market value evaporated, is the specter of the SAR government taking larger equity stakes in the companies.<\/p>\n

\n

In theory, that could be positive regarding dividends, because the government would benefit from steady payouts alongside other shareholders. However, the idea of increased government stakes in gaming companies roiled markets, sparking concerns Macau casino operators could eventually look like state-owned enterprises (SOEs)<\/a> — a corporate structure found predominantly in developing economies. Governments are the largest investors in SOEs, and their interests don’t always align with those of other shareholders.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

MdME says there are three key policy areas that fall under the dividend proposal. Those are operators’ ongoing investments in Macau’s economic diversification, maximization of benefits from the gaming industry to the local community, and ensuring concessionaires are financially healthy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is fair to say that any or all of the above objectives are legitimate. However, the effectiveness of the proposed measure to achieve them is debatable,\u201d<\/strong> said Olivera and Proneca.<\/p>\n

Proposal May Harm Macau Dividends<\/h2>\n

As reflected by price action in Macau gaming equities last month, investors are fretting the SAR’s efforts to regulate dividends could be more damaging than intended.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, the business uncertainty the measure introduces — as reflected in recent market sentiment — may compromise the ability of concessionaires to remain competitive, thus affecting their ability to achieve the exact same policy objectives the proposal intends to accomplish,\u201d <\/strong>note Olivera and Proneca.<\/p>\n

Three of the six Macau license holders are US-based companies. Of that group, only MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM) pays a dividend<\/a> to US investors, and it’s a token one at that, just a penny per share, per year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A proposal by Macau authorities that, if implemented, would require casino operators to obtain government approval prior to distributing dividends to investors has no established precedent in the special administrative region’s (SAR) legal framework, according to a local law firm. Last month, shares of concessionaires in the world’s largest casino center tumbled after authorities there […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":188215,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69069,10],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThere's No Legal Precedent To Regulate Macau Dividends, Says Law Firm<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Macau authorities want to regulate casino dividend payments, but a law firm says the effort could be harmful.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/theres-no-legal-precedent-to-regulate-macau-dividends-says-law-firm\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"There's No Legal Precedent To Regulate Macau Dividends, Says Law Firm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Macau authorities want to regulate casino dividend payments, but a law firm says the effort could be harmful.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/theres-no-legal-precedent-to-regulate-macau-dividends-says-law-firm\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-10-07T16:36:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-10-08T20:56:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/macau2-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1706\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@etfgodfather\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/theres-no-legal-precedent-to-regulate-macau-dividends-says-law-firm\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/theres-no-legal-precedent-to-regulate-macau-dividends-says-law-firm\/\",\"name\":\"There's No Legal Precedent To Regulate Macau Dividends, Says Law Firm\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/theres-no-legal-precedent-to-regulate-macau-dividends-says-law-firm\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/theres-no-legal-precedent-to-regulate-macau-dividends-says-law-firm\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/macau2-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-07T16:36:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-08T20:56:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\"},\"description\":\"Macau authorities want to regulate casino dividend payments, but a law firm says the effort could be harmful.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/theres-no-legal-precedent-to-regulate-macau-dividends-says-law-firm\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/theres-no-legal-precedent-to-regulate-macau-dividends-says-law-firm\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/theres-no-legal-precedent-to-regulate-macau-dividends-says-law-firm\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/macau2-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/macau2-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1706,\"caption\":\"Macau wants to regulate how casino companies pay dividends. A law firm says there's no precedent for that. (Image: Reuters)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/theres-no-legal-precedent-to-regulate-macau-dividends-says-law-firm\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Financial\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/financial\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Macau Casino Dividend Proposal ‘Has No Parallel’ in Established Policy, Says Law Firm\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\",\"name\":\"Todd Shriber\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Todd Shriber\"},\"description\":\"Todd Shriber is a senior news reporter covering gaming financials, casino business, stocks, and mergers and acquisitions for Casino.org. Todd got his start in financial markets as a reporter with Bloomberg News. Later, he became a trader at a Southern California-based long\/short hedge fund, where he specialized in the trading sector and international ETFs leading up to and during the financial crisis. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Currently, Todd analyzes, researches, and writes on ETFs for various web-based publications and financial services firms. Shriber has been featured and quoted in Barron's, CNBC.com, and The Wall Street Journal. His work can also be found on Benzinga, ETF Daily News, ETF Trends, MarketWatch, Fox Business, and Nasdaq.com. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golf and taking his black lab to the dog park. He's also an avid sports fan and likes to wager on college football and the NBA. You can also find him at the three-card poker and roulette table, even though he knows better. Contact Todd at todd.shriber@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/todd-shriber\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/toddshriber\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/etfgodfather\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/todd-shriber\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"There's No Legal Precedent To Regulate Macau Dividends, Says Law Firm","description":"Macau authorities want to regulate casino dividend payments, but a law firm says the effort could be harmful.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/theres-no-legal-precedent-to-regulate-macau-dividends-says-law-firm\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"There's No Legal Precedent To Regulate Macau Dividends, Says Law Firm","og_description":"Macau authorities want to regulate casino dividend payments, but a law firm says the effort could be harmful.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/theres-no-legal-precedent-to-regulate-macau-dividends-says-law-firm\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2021-10-07T16:36:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-10-08T20:56:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1706,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/macau2-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Todd Shriber","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@etfgodfather","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Todd Shriber","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/theres-no-legal-precedent-to-regulate-macau-dividends-says-law-firm\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/theres-no-legal-precedent-to-regulate-macau-dividends-says-law-firm\/","name":"There's No Legal Precedent To Regulate Macau Dividends, Says Law Firm","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/theres-no-legal-precedent-to-regulate-macau-dividends-says-law-firm\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/theres-no-legal-precedent-to-regulate-macau-dividends-says-law-firm\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/macau2-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2021-10-07T16:36:31+00:00","dateModified":"2021-10-08T20:56:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85"},"description":"Macau authorities want to regulate casino dividend payments, but a law firm says the effort could be harmful.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/theres-no-legal-precedent-to-regulate-macau-dividends-says-law-firm\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/theres-no-legal-precedent-to-regulate-macau-dividends-says-law-firm\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/theres-no-legal-precedent-to-regulate-macau-dividends-says-law-firm\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/macau2-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/macau2-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1706,"caption":"Macau wants to regulate how casino companies pay dividends. A law firm says there's no precedent for that. (Image: Reuters)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/theres-no-legal-precedent-to-regulate-macau-dividends-says-law-firm\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Financial","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/financial\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Macau Casino Dividend Proposal ‘Has No Parallel’ in Established Policy, Says Law Firm"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85","name":"Todd Shriber","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png","caption":"Todd Shriber"},"description":"Todd Shriber is a senior news reporter covering gaming financials, casino business, stocks, and mergers and acquisitions for Casino.org. Todd got his start in financial markets as a reporter with Bloomberg News. Later, he became a trader at a Southern California-based long\/short hedge fund, where he specialized in the trading sector and international ETFs leading up to and during the financial crisis. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Currently, Todd analyzes, researches, and writes on ETFs for various web-based publications and financial services firms. Shriber has been featured and quoted in Barron's, CNBC.com, and The Wall Street Journal. His work can also be found on Benzinga, ETF Daily News, ETF Trends, MarketWatch, Fox Business, and Nasdaq.com. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golf and taking his black lab to the dog park. He's also an avid sports fan and likes to wager on college football and the NBA. You can also find him at the three-card poker and roulette table, even though he knows better. Contact Todd at todd.shriber@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/todd-shriber","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/toddshriber\/","https:\/\/x.com\/etfgodfather"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/todd-shriber\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188214"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}