Gaming table cap should be revised, economist says

A croupier is pictured inside the newly opened Broadway Macau, developed by Galaxy

A local economist has said that, in light of the gaming revenue drop, the government should be flexible and allow operators to have more gaming tables than those permitted if the 3 percent per year gaming table cap is strictly enforced.
“The local government shouldn’t be locked into a policy that was designed when the gaming industry was going through a different kind of [growth] evolution. A gaming table cap was established at that stage, but meanwhile the situation has changed, hence the government must change its policy, otherwise it will be complicated,” Albano Martins told Lusa.
The gaming table cap was introduced in 2013 when Francis Tam was the Secretary for Economy and Finance. It was presented as a measure to control the growth in gambling, forcing operators to resort to non-gambling activities in order to attract customers. Francis Tam said in January 2013 that, considering there were 5,500 gaming tables operating in 2012, the average growth in the number of gambling tables would be strictly controlled via a growth cap of 3 percent yearly, to be implemented for at least 10 years. The current secretary Lionel Leong has reiterated this policy.
Meanwhile the government has permitted the allocation of only 150 new gaming tables for the newly opened second phase of the Galaxy casino-resort. Albano Martins estimates that there are 521 new tables to be distributed by several gaming operators until 2017. According to him, that number is “insufficient and concerning,” given that the gaming companies plan to invest MOP160 billion in development.
“At this time they want to have less VIP gambling and more mass-market, but the latter type of gaming is also done using tables,” Mr Martins stressed. “I hope that the entity who is dictating Macau’s financial policy is the local government and not the first system (China), because if it is the first system [designing the policy], we have an external factor that meets another exogenous factor, which is the policy imposed by China concerning how money can flow outside China,” he added. “If it that’s the case it becomes complicated, because the second system will start to lose its autonomy that it is accorded based on the Basic Law and that is my fear.” MDT/Lusa

Lionel Leong argues for full smoking ban

The Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lionel Leong, has shrugged off the junket association’s repeated appeals for the introduction of smoking rooms into VIP gaming areas. This rejection comes right after secretary Alexis Tam asserted his firm stance against the request in another meeting with the group three days ago. The head of the association, Kwok Chi Chung, claimed that the refusal to grant smoking rooms might “deal a deadly blow” to businesses which have already been dented by plunging gaming revenue. Conversely, Leong stressed that the junket operators should “take social responsibility” for their businesses and ensure that their staff are being awarded their statutory rights and remuneration despite the companies facing obstacles.