Satellite casino transition period expires

Macau's three-year transition period for satellite casinos, granted under Law No. 7/2022 amending the legal regime for casino gaming operations, expired on 31 December 2025¹. Casino Landmark, the final satellite casino still operating, closed its doors at 11:59 p.m. on 30 December, ending a business model that had operated in the city since the 1990s². The venue was located within the New Orient Landmark Hotel on the Macau peninsula and operated under the gaming license of SJM Holdings².

• The transition period was granted under Law No. 7/2022 and ran three years¹
• Casino Landmark closed at 11:59 p.m. on 30 December 2025²
• The venue operated under the gaming license of SJM Holdings²

Under the revised law, all casinos must now operate within properties owned by licensed gaming concessionaires, and satellite casino companies are barred from sharing gaming revenue with concessionaires². At the beginning of 2025, 11 satellite casinos were in operation; all have since closed except Casino L'Arc, which transitioned into a self-managed property under SJM³. SJM Holdings shareholders approved a HK$1.75 billion (US$225 million) acquisition of the L'Arc Hotel complex, including Casino L'Arc Macau, with about 99.93 percent of votes cast in favor at an extraordinary general meeting³. SJM Resorts assumed direct management and operation of L'Arc Casino effective from 2:00 a.m. on 30 December 2025⁴.

The Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) said it would send personnel to monitor closure procedures on site, ensuring concessionaires handled cash and chips in the accounts chamber, as well as any unredeemed cash vouchers, chip exchanges, gaming machine accumulated jackpot pools and unredeemed gaming machine vouchers¹. For the 71 employees at Casino Emperor Palace and the 111 at Casino Fortuna, the DICJ said it would maintain close contact with the Labour Affairs Bureau to ensure concessionaires fulfilled commitments to place workers according to previously submitted plans¹. The DICJ said it had been working with the Labour Affairs Bureau to ensure SJM met its responsibilities to the 1,169 employees at Casino Landmark affected by the closure².

Separately, the DICJ approved the continued operation of three Mocha-branded slot machine parlors under Melco Resorts (Macau) S.A. beyond the year-end expiry. Effective 1 January 2026, the Mocha Golden Dragon, Mocha Inner Harbour and Mocha Hotel Sintra slot-machine parlors will remain open, to be run by a management company engaged by Melco⁴. The bureau said this arrangement will not affect existing labor relationships between the staff of the three parlors and Melco⁴. A fourth venue, Mocha Hotel Royal, ceased operations at 11:59 p.m. on 28 December, with the DICJ coordinating closure procedures on the morning of 29 December⁴.

The DICJ said:

In June 2025, the Labour Affairs Bureau said it had reached out to 3,878 employees of satellite casinos scheduled to close by the end of the year, representing nearly 70 percent of those affected. Some 5,600 local workers were employed by gaming operations owned by third-party investors but operating under official gaming concessions, with around 4,800 hired by Galaxy Entertainment Group, Melco Resorts & Entertainment and SJM Holdings, and the remaining 800 employed directly by satellite operators⁵. The three concessionaires pledged to reassign all affected workers to positions within their own properties⁵.

Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai said in June 2025 that the impact of the closures on gross domestic product should not be very significant, noting that the city's 11 satellite casinos generated MOP11 billion in gross gaming revenue in 2024, accounting for roughly 4.85 percent of the industry total of MOP226.78 billion⁶.

What it means for players

The satellite casino model, which allowed third-party entities to operate gaming venues under a concessionaire's license, has been effectively dismantled². For gamblers in Macau, the practical effect is that venues operating outside concessionaire-owned properties are no longer available. The 11 satellite casinos that operated at the start of 2025 have either closed or, in the case of Casino L'Arc, become a wholly owned and self-managed asset under SJM Holdings³. Players who previously visited satellite venues will find those locations shut, with gaming now concentrated in concessionaire-owned properties. The DICJ said it oversaw the handling of cash and chips remaining in the accounts chamber, as well as unredeemed cash vouchers, chip exchanges and gaming machine accumulated jackpot pools at closing venues¹. It has not been reported what arrangements exist for players holding unredeemed items from venues that have already closed.

What happens next

The transition period expired on 31 December 2025¹. The DICJ said it will continue to coordinate with gaming concessionaires and relevant government departments on the development of Macau's gaming industry⁴. The Labour Affairs Bureau said inspections at affected venues would continue throughout the closure process, with daily monitoring of workforce transitions, and that it would arrange further job-matching sessions as necessary⁵.