Casinos accused of blacklisting unfriendly workers

Leong Sun Iok (center)

The local government has been urged by lawmaker Leong Sun Iok to investigate casinos following accusations that certain casinos are sharing a blacklist of employees in order to prevent former casino employees from entering the industry.

According to Leong, this accusation has not yet been confirmed, but has been allegedly an open secret for years.

Leong pointed out that people started having suspicions about the gaming industry putting previously fired employees onto a blacklist, or simply former employees who engaged in unfriendly behaviours towards the casinos they worked for.

In addition, casinos allegedly have shared information and restricted employment opportunities of these blacklisted past employees, thus preventing them from entering the gaming industry again.

According to Leong, previously the government denied the existence of such a blacklist. However, he claimed that complaints condemning the abovementioned situations have also emerged in recent years.

Leong revealed that recently, he received a report in which a former casino dealer claimed he had been rejected by several casinos, and that one casino, despite having confirmed he was qualified for the job, eventually turned him down after a background check made by the casino itself.

“Gaming operators’ employment blacklist and mandatory requirements for background checking obviously violate the labor affairs law […], breach the residents’ equal rights over employment and career developments, and violate the personal data protection law,” said Leong, urging the government to open an investigation.