GEG Continues to Help Build a Responsible Gaming Culture in Macau

As the city’s first gaming operator to establish a dedicated team focused on promoting responsible gaming in 2008, Galaxy Entertainment Group (GEG) shares the Macau SAR Government’s vision for developing the local gaming industry responsibly as the city furthers its development as a World Center of Tourism and Leisure. This year, in support of the Macau SAR Government’s annual responsible gaming promotion and emphasis on the “family”, GEG continued to work closely with the relevant government departments and other non-governmental organizations in organizing various activities and initiatives to enhance the responsible gaming awareness and knowledge of its team members and the public, particularly the young generation and families.

Community Outreach

GEG believes that establishing a widely embraced culture for responsible gaming greatly benefits the sustainable development of the community. Over the years, GEG has been keen on promoting responsible gaming and family harmony through holding different family relationship building and parent-child bonding activities. In this year’s Lantern Festival, GEG and the Macau Youth Volunteer Association (AJVM) co-organized a family activity where over 50 parents and children were invited to Broadway Macau for a celebration. During the activity, the participants made traditional festive desserts and acquired responsible gaming knowledge through the different games offered at the games booths and solving the lantern riddles for various prizes.

Moreover, to extend its responsible gaming pledge to Macau’s young people, GEG collaborated with the Bosco Youth Service Network (BYS) in instilling positive life values in young people by being the first gaming operator to donate to BYS’s launch of the “FREEland” service last year so that BYS can extend support to teens with gambling addiction and expand its efforts on gambling addiction prevention and treatment. GEG’s commitment was duly recognized for its contribution and became the only gaming operator to be named a “caring partner for teens” by BYS in 2020. This year, GEG continued its cooperation with BYS and organized the city’s first responsible gaming-themed room escape activity – “GEG Presents: Responsible Gaming Community Promotion Program – Discover the Mystery”. This fresh and appealing activity was well accepted by the youthful participants, who took the opportunity to learn of the harms of gambling addiction and the need to resist impulsive gambling behaviors.

Furthermore, to encourage the public to stay rational while engaging in the games and related entertainment during the 2020 UEFA European Championship that was held from June to July, in May, GEG launched the “GEG Presents: Stay Rational When Having Fun” campaign in partnership with the Macao Gaming Industry Employees Home Integrated Services Centre (MGIEH). For nearly two months, various campaigns that consisted of a variety of activities were held online and offline with aims of reaching the wider community. Among the initiatives, GEG supported MGIEH in raising the community’s responsible gaming awareness by distributing relevant pamphlets at various sports venues and community recreational areas in Macau. In addition, GEG also posted and shared an easy-to-understand four-frame comic on website and social media platforms to help young people understand the risks and behaviors of gambling addiction, and its related prevention methods.

Employee-oriented

Meanwhile, GEG also believes that responsible gaming practices start with its team members. Hence, GEG also organizes a number of team member-oriented activities on a regular basis to instill responsible gaming knowledge to its team members and their families, including trainings, workshops, talks, visits and roadshows, which, to date, have attracted the participation of over 85,000 team members.

This year marked the ninth consecutive year that GEG had organized the “Responsible Gaming Awareness Week” for its team members. Launched earlier this month, the “Say No to Addiction” campaign will run at the back-of-house areas of Galaxy Macau, Broadway Macau, StarWorld Hotel and City Clubs and promoted responsible gaming to GEG’s team members through a series of interactive roadshows and workshop. In partnership with AJVM, the roadshows heightened team members’ knowledge on the illegality of online gambling in Macau and helped them identify related implicit messages and preventions. Besides, the workshop co-organized with Sheng Kung Hui Macau Social Services Coordination Office (SKH) further explained to team members the symptoms and process of addiction.

To emphasize the importance of gambling rationally to team members, GEG spreads heartfelt messages of support to team members during holiday seasons and major sports events. During this year’s “Stay Rational When Having Fun” campaign, GEG hosted a number of roadshows at its back-of-house areas and cooperated with MGIEH on helping team members bust the myths of football betting via the organization of a game that team members were invited to play at the specially designed foosball table. Meanwhile, GEG also co-organized a “Know More About Festive Gambling Myths” with AJVM during the Chinese New Year in January. These roadshows further strengthened team members’ knowledge in the principles of responsible gaming.

Furthermore, since 2013, GEG has been hosting a Responsible Gaming Committee Training every year and inviting Professor Davis Fong, Director of the Institute for the Study of Commercial Gaming of the University of Macau and other experienced SKH counselors to provide team members with the latest updates of the city’s responsible gambling policies, measures, guidelines, and related facilities. GEG also cares about the well-being of its team members and organizes different activities to help its team members stay away from problematic gambling behaviors and to help relieve stress, including a stress management workshop that GEG co-organized with AJVM and the Macao Catholic Family Advisory Council for female team members, and a board gaming training co-organized with MGIEH for its frontline team members. In the future, GEG will continue to maintain close communication and cooperation with all stakeholders, and work with them to promote responsible gaming.

—— MAKE A DIFFERENCE BY MAKING A COMMITMENT ——