Macao gambling licence: no online licence

Casino concessionaires may not operate interactive games, and an interactive-games concession would be separate from a casino concession; none has ever been awarded. Running, promoting or organising online gambling in Macao without authorisation is a crime of 1 to 8 years (Lei 20/2024 art. 7), wherever the systems are installed.

• A licence from another jurisdiction does not help: online gambling aimed at Macao without authorisation is a crime whatever licence the operator holds elsewhere.
• How the market gets round it: the Judiciary Police record proxy betting, where a person inside a licensed casino streams a table to customers in the Mainland and bets on their instructions. Cases of 9 July and 22 August 2026 were sent to the Public Prosecutions Office as illegal online gambling.
• Websites are blocked in practice: the Judiciary Police, with the DICJ and the gaming companies, blocked nearly 60,000 illegal gambling websites in the first half of 2025, though no law names a blocking power.
• No casino tender is open, and the six concessions run to 31 December 2032; the Chief Executive may exceptionally extend them by up to three years in total.

Laws that apply

• Lei n.º 16/2001: casino concessions, the special gaming tax and sanctions; casino concessionaires may not operate interactive games (art. 4(1))
• Lei n.º 16/2022 and Regulamento Administrativo n.º 55/2022: game promoters, collaborators and management companies
• Lei n.º 20/2024: illegal gambling crimes, including running, promoting or organising online gambling without authorisation (art. 7)
• Lei n.º 7/2024: credit for casino gaming, granted only by a concessionaire
• Ordem Executiva n.º 67/2018 and n.º 20/2005, with Despacho SEF n.º 38/2019: the sports lottery and its internet channel
• Lei n.º 10/2012: casino entry from 21 and the DICJ exclusion scheme
• Lei n.º 7/2026: the Advertising Law, banning gambling advertising in any form from 1 January 2027 (art. 19)

Macao licenses intermediaries and suppliers by category, all land-based. None of these roles reaches online gambling.

• Game promoter (junket): a licence from the Secretary for Economy and Finance, applied for at the DICJ. A Macao private limited company whose sole object is promoting games, with at least MOP 10,000,000 paid-up capital and at least 50% held by permanent residents aged 21 or over. 27 promoter licences are on the DICJ list updated 29 October 2026.
• A promoter works with one concessionaire only and is paid only by commission, capped at 1.25% of net rolling, with no share of casino revenue; only the concessionaire may grant gaming credit.
• Collaborator: a natural person authorised by the DICJ director, with a MOP 500,000 bond.
• Gaming-machine manufacturer: a DICJ authorisation under Regulamento Administrativo 26/2012, acting through a Macao branch or company; 25 manufacturers are on the list of 28 October 2026.
• Management company: a concessionaire needs the Chief Executive's authorisation to hire one, and his approval of the draft management contract.

Casino concessionaires pay a 35% special gaming tax on the gross revenues of the operation of games, plus contributions of 2% and 3% of gross gaming revenue, monthly by the 10th.

• The Chief Executive may reduce or exempt the 2% and 3% contributions, not the 35% tax, for public-interest reasons such as widening the market of customers from foreign countries; Regulamento Administrativo 54/2022 and Despacho CE 216/2022 base any reduction on revenue from foreign customers and fix no percentage.
• A 5% final tax is withheld on commissions paid to promoters.
• Each concession pays an annual premium: in the SJM and Wynn contracts, MOP 30,000,000 a year fixed plus MOP 300,000 or MOP 150,000 per table and MOP 1,000 per machine.
• Player winnings are not taxed.

For a company that wants to bring players to a casino concessionaire. There is no online route.

1. 01

   Agree with one concessionaire

   Lei 16/2022 arts 8-9

   A promoter works with one concessionaire only, and the draft promotion contract with it goes in with the application; each concessionaire's annual maximum number of promoters is published on the DICJ site by 31 July.

2. 02

   Set up the company and the bond

   Lei 16/2022 art. 8 · Despacho SEF 89/2022

   A Macao private limited company with promotion of games as its sole object and MOP 10,000,000 paid-up capital, plus a MOP 1,500,000 bond in cash or by bank guarantee.

3. 03

   File with the DICJ

   RA 55/2022 art. 5

   Form LP01 with the commercial registry certificate, the draft promotion contract, proof of the bond, criminal-record certificates and the disclosure forms, with signatures notarised in person.

4. 04

   Pass the integrity vetting

   Lei 16/2022 · RA 55/2022 art. 3

   The DICJ vets the company, all its partners, directors and key employees; the vetting costs are paid within 15 days of the DICJ's notice.

5. 05

   Receive the licence and renew it yearly

   Despacho CE 232/2022 · RA 55/2022 art. 6

   The Secretary for Economy and Finance issues the licence for MOP 3,000; it runs to 31 December of the following year and is then renewed each year, applying between 1 August and 30 September.

Tier-ordered: official government first, then practitioner, then trade media. Every primary figure was read from the in-force text on 10 Nov 2026.