Some time ago, two months ago, to be specific, Bloomberg stated that it had insider info affirming that Macau may move from making use of Hong Kong’s dollar as its base currency.
They believe Macau may opt for a credible alternative, the digital yuan, instead of relying on China. This pronouncement caused several ripples in the gaming community as there have been serious concerns over China’s control exerted on the city
Macau’s likelihood of towing the same path as Hong Kong is quite unnerving and will definitely not go down well with many.
Although the gambling regulator of Macau, the DICJ (Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau), denied Bloomberg’s report.
From the look of things, there’s definitely more to the story than meets the eye. Sanford C. Bernstein brokerage analysts have spoken up and are asserting that moving to the digital yuan will be beneficial for casinos in Macau.
These analysts released research sometime last week. The research explained that a digital yuan from China as the central currency for Macau would help both the premium-mass and mass segments.
In part, the conclusion is based on the crackdown on cross-border transactions and payments in China. The analysts believe that using the digital yuan will ease those payments and pacify Chinese authorities.
The nation is working very hard to stop on illicit payment activities and gambling and efforts to curb this will not stop in the near future.
In the report analysts from Bernstein Tianjiao Yu and Vitaly Umansky said, “[A digital yuan] would allow greater [Chinese] government scrutiny and control over money flows [and] it would also allow easier money transfer [and] eliminate the need to use intermediaries (like junkets, underground banks or pawnshops). Mass and premium-mass play could surely benefit due to ease of money flow.”
These analysts spend time on how using the digital yuan in Macau will be of good shows that the denial of DICJ concerning the rumors is unfounded. There’s every chance the report from Bloomberg is somewhat valid.
Especially after China’s stance on political control, Macau is expected to make these changes concerning issuing fresh casino concessions in 2022.
Yu and Umansky had this to say, “The internationalization [of Chinese currency] could go a long way to increasing the probability” of seeing it become the “standard currency in Macau. Eventually, digital transactions will be the norm and cash as we know it will be a historical relic. But this will be an evolutionary development that will likely take many years.”
Source: https://calvinayre.com/2021/01/25/casino/bernstein-analysts-show-support-for-digital-yuan-in-macau/