Gaming inspection chief says new junket mechanism needed

Paulo Martins Chan

Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) director, Paulo Martins Chan made clear in an interview published in the July edition of Macau Inc., that some components of the gaming industry need to be revised while others ought to be preserved.
Chan said that the city used to be overly reliant on the VIP gaming segment.
“Once the market is hit by economic or external factors, the impact is always severe,” he rationalized. “For Macau’s future development, VIP and mass-market gaming should be reformed in such a way that they complement each other, both in terms of quality and quantity.”
However, he is not advocating a total departure from VIP gaming. While the DICJ chief believes that junket regulation needs to be heightened (and to this end the bureau is recruiting a further 70 inspectors), he said that a mechanism should be introduced to help the operators to recover debt owed to them by mainland Chinese gamblers.
At present, there are little means to recovering such debt, since it is not recognized on the mainland.
“It is important, therefore, to help these junkets establish an information system, one which collects and stores information related to credit and the credit rating of gamblers, to be shared by all junkets,” Chan told Macau Inc. “This requires gamblers to sign a form consenting to the disclosure of their credit information. The DICJ is currently in discussion with junkets regarding this matter.”
However the DICJ chief warned, the success of the mechanism will entirely depend on whether the junkets chose to play by the rules.