Casino operators can start getting serious about their future plans as Macau’s political outlook looks like its firming up quite nicely. The nomination period for chief executive (CE) is coming to a close, and only one man can possibly come out on top.
After the July 7 to July 23 nomination period, Macau Business reports Ho Iat Seng, the former president of the Legislative Assembly, had 378 of 400 possible nominations. To be officially nominated for the August 25 election for CE, a candidate should have minimum 70 nominations.
That makes him mathematically the only nominated candidate for the role. By my calculations, and after consulting with several people who can also count, that means he will probably win.
All the same, Ho is humble and is not making any moves that could piss off the electoral committee. During the nomination process, he commented:
“I don’t know whether I could get this number of votes in the election as the Electoral Committee members will read my political platform, [the votes] might lower than this number. I don’t set a great goal of getting how many votes in the election.”
With Ho’s future as CE almost guaranteed, gambling operations can expect five to ten years (as he’s limited to two terms potentially) of his policies. What will that mean?
In June, Ho commented that he believes in casinos having a healthy development going forward as a key piece to Macau’s economy. He wouldn’t get into anything more specific than that at the time, refusing to give specifics on how many concessionaires should be added during the next refreshment period.
Previously, it was also suggested that Ho represents a more China-minded focus for Macau, which some analysts suggesting American based operators could lose out if trade relations don’t improve between the two countries. That idea has been dismissed by others though, as there would simply be too much turmoil for the administrative district if it should chose to kick out any well performing concessionaire.
In any case, this looks like a defense of the status quo for Macau. Having already served as Legislative Assembly president since 2013, Ho will be a steady hand going forward, guaranteeing stability for everyone involved.
