A senior economic official hinted that "18" to "19" would be the maximum number of casinos for Macau 's casino mogul Stanley Ho, according to Friday's Macau Post.
Francis Tam Pak Yuen, secretary for economic and finance of the Macau Special Administrative Region government, who oversees the gaming sector, said the government and the Macau Gaming Co Ltd ( SJM) owned by Stanley Ho were exchanging views on the issue of its maximum number of casinos, as well as the possibility of merging several small casinos into medium-sized ones.
Meanwhile, some industry insiders expected that as the government liberalized the gaming sector in 2002, Macau's total number of casinos will reach about two dozens by the end of the decade.
Ho had dominated Macau's gaming sector for 40 years before 2002, and his SJM now operates 14 casinos with two more slated to be opened shortly.
Macau's legislation on gaming business limits the number of casino-operating concessions to three. However, the number of casinos or sub-concessions that each of the three concessionaires may run is not specified by law.