All casino employees to be banned from casinos while off-duty

A proposed bill suggests that the Macau law regulating casino workers’ entry to casinos while off-duty should include an entry ban for all gaming operators’ employees.

On Wednesday, government representatives, including the director of the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ), Paulo Martins Chan, met with the First Standing Committee of the Legislative Assembly (AL) to discuss the bill.

The bill proposes that employees of gaming concessioners and sub-concessioners should be prevented from entering casinos during their spare time, as criminals had been taking advantage of casino employees addicted to gambling.

The employees banned would include dealers, public relations workers, cashiers and security guards, among all others.

“The government [had initialy] informed that it had no intention of including public relations workers, and restaurant, cleaning, and security staff in the interdiction. However, following the public consultation, the government recognized that these types of workers can also be easily influenced and become addicted to gambling,” explained lawmaker Ho Ion Sang.

The ban means approximately 100,000 people will not be allowed to enter casinos in their spare time. Between 20,000 and 30,000 people are directly employed by casinos, while the rest include junket promoters.

A few lawmakers pointed out that providers of outsourced casino services were excluded by the law, which means that some cleaning, security and catering staff can still enter casinos without restrictions. 

Chan noted that the idea of protecting casino workers is shared by the government and deputies.

“Regarding the gaming policies to avoid gambling addiction, everything was peaceful among the deputies and government. However, there were some technical difficulties related to a few details and related to certain areas where entry should be forbidden. Nevertheless, these issues are easily solved,” said Chan.