The Secretary for Economy and Finance, Mr Leong Vai Tac, speaks to reporters.
The holder of Macao’s horse racing concession must pay to the Government – within a three-year period – the balance of certain previously-due fees; otherwise the concession would be terminated.
The three-year period was a condition attached to a recent extension of the concession, the Secretary for Economy and Finance, Mr Leong Vai Tac, told reporters today on the sidelines of an event.
The concessionaire, Macau Horse Race Company Ltd, has dues of approximately 150 million patacas to pay to the Government. The amounts included an annuity set by the concession contract; a share of the value of aggregate amounts bet, to be directed for the Government’s Pension Fund; and unclaimed prizes.
The Government had requested, starting in 2015, that the company pay – on a yearly basis – a certain portion of the due amounts, with all the money to be settled within a 10-year period.
Under the terms of a concession extension granted in 2005, the company had been required to pay – among other dues – a fixed annuity of 15 million patacas. However the company had informed the Government that – because during the period 2002 to 2018 it had been running at a loss – it could not afford to pay that annuity. The Government had granted exemption from such payment, either in part or in whole, in various years.
A concession condition dating from prior to 2005 – that required the company to give to the Pension Fund one percent of the value of aggregate amounts bet – no longer applied under the terms of the 2005 concession extension.
The 2005 concession extension terms also stipulated a certain percentage levy be imposed on the concessionaire should the value of aggregate amounts bet reach annually an amount of 2.5 billion patacas or above. Such levy had not been imposed on the company, as it had for years recorded an annual deficit on its business.
The Government recently approved an extension of the horse racing concession, running until 31 August 2042, inclusive. The decision was based on a 1.5-billion-patacas investment plan from the concessionaire.
Mr Leong stressed the planned investment would have to be in place according to an agreed schedule, otherwise the concession would be terminated.