MacauSlot is mainly owned by Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau, S.A.R.L. (STDM), controlled by Stanley Ho. Founded in 1989, it was the first government-franchised company to offer the sale of instant winning lottery tickets on passenger ferries running between Hong Kong and Macau.
In 1998 - prior to the football World Cup - Slot was granted the franchise from the Macau government to offer soccer betting, thus became the first government-franchised company in Asia to operate a sports betting business.
This was followed by a government-franchise for basketball betting on 30 December 2002.