Lawmaker Leong Sun Iok
Lawmaker Leong Sun Iok, representing the Macau Federation of Trade Unions (FAOM), has responded to news of record-breaking gross gaming revenue (GGR) in July from local casinos with a call to the gaming operators to increase workers’ salaries as a way of sharing part of these profits with those affected by the economic crisis precipitated by the pandemic.
Leong made the call in an interview with the Chinese language state media outlet Macao Daily News, published yesterday.
Using similar language to that of his colleague Lei Chan U, who on Monday at the Legislative Assembly called for a pay raise for civil servants, Leong also said that a salary increase from the gaming concessionaires would be an exemplar for other private sector companies in different sectors to follow, catalyzing a general salary increase across economic sectors in Macau.
The lawmakers noted that the profits currently being collected by the gaming and hotel industry are attributable to the efforts and contributions of their workers, many of whom were laid off or furloughed during the pandemic.
As the Times has reported, July saw the best monthly GGR since January 2020, with the casinos cashing in some MOP16.66 billion and bringing this year’s accumulated GGR very close to the psychological milestone of MOP100 billion (MOP96.798 billion in the first seven months).
If, as expected, casino earnings continue to hold steady, it is expected that total GGR at the end of this year could surpass MOP160 billion, higher than the government’s forecast of some MOP130 billion for 2023.
According to official statistics at the end of 2022, the average earnings of full-time employees in the gaming sector were MOP23,680, an amount 3.9% lower than that reported at the end of 2019.
