Lawmaker Ella Lei has stressed that the Grand Emperor Hotel group has not further announced any employment arrangements for its staff.
“Many people are worried that they will not be able to keep their jobs,” Lei underlined.
She explained that the casino at Grand Emperor Hotel operates under a gaming concession held by SJM, and the croupiers, supervisors and staff are employees of SJM. A significant number of people will be affected by announcement of the casino ceasing operations.
The lawmaker expects the grantee company to take the initiative to assist the staff by keeping them in employment through other casino arrangements and the staff should be informed of those arrangements as soon as possible.
She also mentioned, at the end of last year, there were 1,774 fewer full-time employees in the gaming industry compared to the same period in 2020, among them, the number of croupiers decreased by 758.
Moreover, legislator and chairman of the Gaming Employees Home, Leong Sun Iok, pointed out that according to the existing law on the employment of non-resident workers, the authorities may revoke permission to employ non-residents in specific economic sectors due to major reasons such as changes in the economic situation.
Chinese media reported previously that seven satellite casinos are planning to stop operations by mid-year. Lei urges the government to take the initiative to understand the situation and prepare a plan to assist affected employees in the gaming industry. She also urges the casinos to fulfill their corporate social responsibility to continue the employment of their employees, so as to avoid making the unemployment situation worse. JW
