The bill governing future junket operations is expected to reach the Legislative Assembly (AL) for a second vote next week after an AL committee studying the details of the bill signed off its document of opinions today.
Under the bill that has finally passed the scrutiny of the Second Standing Committee of the Legislative Assembly, a junket operator and its managing company are only allowed to provide services for one single gaming operator under a partnership that reward them with commissions in return.
Junkets are prohibited from pocketing a share of gaming companies’ casino revenue in any other way, Chan stressed.
The lawmaker also reiterated that a company has to seek approval from the secretary for economy and finance to run junket operations, with the permit non-transferrable to a third party.
Under the bill, gaming concessionaires can create accounts to hold cash deposits or chips from local and foreign gamblers temporarily, while a separate account is allowed to be opened by the gaming companies themselves for payments and chips from the junket operators they partner with for business purposes.
The bill, which is expected to pass the legislature with ease, also seeks to penalise junkets misusing accounts for raising funds that is unrelated to gaming, an illegal act that is punishable with a prison term of two to five years.
