Briefs | Bus collision injures seven

An accident that took place on Friday at the Avenida do Ouvidor Arriaga resulted in 16 school children being sent to the hospital for an evaluation. The collision involved a school bus and a private car. Seven people, including five school children aged between 4 and 5 years old, a female school worker and a female teacher sustained injuries. The collision is suspected to have been caused by the car failing to stop at the intersection and colliding with the school bus. The car’s driver is a local student aged 20 years old.

Property management industry expects fee increase

The property management industry expects property management fees to increase between 5 and 10 percent due to the city’s new minimum wage bill. The vice-president of the Property Management Business Association Macau, Yeong Kuong, expects that this time, the increase will have less of an impact than the increase of the minimum wage in 2016. “The minimum wage adjustment will definitely result in an increase in costs, and these costs will be passed onto small owners,” said Yeong, who hopes the government can give more time to residents and the property management industry for them to adjust to the new regulation.

Smart water meter program to launch this year

Macao Water will launch a smart water meter pilot program for homes in the first half of this year in the Macau peninsula, according to the utility company. The meter will be used to record users’ water habits and abnormalities and to analyze data. It is hoped that the meter will help to reduce errors caused by manual meter readings and to better understand the daily water-peak distribution. Moreover, on Friday, the city’s water authority reported that Macau currently has a total of 179 buildings participating in the safe water scheme.

Las Vegas Sands notifies SEC of settlement

Casino company Las Vegas Sands has notified federal regulators that it settled a 15-year breach-of-contract battle with a Hong Kong businessman, without disclosing terms. A notice posted with the Securities and Exchange Commission says only that Round Square Co. headed by Richard Suen “released all claims” against Sands when the agreement was announced March 14 in Nevada state court. The notice says the settlement’s terms are confidential. Sands twice appealed jury verdicts that Suen was due tens of millions of dollars for helping Sands open its first casino in the Chinese gambling enclave of Macau in 2004. The settlement ended a third trial in Nevada that focused on establishing the amount Round Square should receive.

Pagcor sees revenue jump in offshore operations

More stringent regulations over Philippine offshore gaming operators, starting from 2016, have resulted in a large increase in revenue for the country’s gaming regulator, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor). Offshore operations generated PHP657 million (MOP4.3 billion) in 2016. After the aforementioned regulations were tightened, revenues soared to PHP3.924 billion (MOP25.6 billion) in 2017 and PHP7.365 billion (MOP48.1 billion) in 2018.

Kosovo suspends casinos, betting shops

Kosovo’s parliament has voted to suspend all casinos and betting shops. Lawmakers voted 74-0 for a resolution suspending gambling activities until a draft law the government will prepare in 30 days is approved. It did not say what the new law will change. Avdullah Hoti, a lawmaker with the Democratic League of Kosovo party who proposed the resolution, said “betting games have grabbed the citizens and no one has become rich with the betting shop businesses.” In a post on his Facebook page, Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj said he is looking for Cabinet approval next week. In 2018, the government gained 16 million euros (MOP146 million) from gambling receipts. After neighboring Albania closed all casinos and betting shops last year, many of them moved to Kosovo.