The mutually agreed decision to end the Macau Jockey Club (MJC) contract was “realistic,” the Secretary for Administration and Justice, André Cheong, said yesterday.
In a government-organized press conference to clarify the decision and explain the upcoming procedures, Cheong noted that the decision was taken after long consideration and negotiations between the government and the company.
Conversations started with an expression of the company’s intention to cease operations, which was followed by a formal application for the contract termination, he said.
To the media’s many questions, Cheong said the decision was not simple and that negotiations have been ongoing at least from about mid-2023, when, according to the government, the MJC first gave notice of its intentions.
Several media grilled the Secretary on why the government decided to extend the monopoly concession to the MJC in 2018, when the company was obviously struggling and unable to fulfill its legal obligations.
Cheong said, “In 2018 we had a […] large study, […] together with the Legislative Assembly, but the company [MJC] proposed a new project that was in line with the government’s aims and goals with projects targeting the diversification of their activities and in line with the establishment of the World Centre of Tourism and Leisure.”
“But as we could see [] this didn’t work and they continued in constant decline. We had to be realistic,” he said.
The government also said that “for the time being the MJC has not failed with any of their legal obligations, with all the taxes and duties to the government [amounting to MOP150 million by 2018] to having been completely fulfilled,” the director of the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ), Adriano Ho, said.
“Since 2018 the MJC has fulfilled all its responsibilities including the taxes that they have cleared. In 2018 [by the time the contract was extended to 2042] they owed the government some MOP150 million in taxes. A sum that was agreed to be paid over three years until 2021 and by 2021 they had already paid this debt.”
Ho also added that according to the contract, the next deadline for the fulfillment of some legal provisions is “later this year, so there isn’t any contractual non-compliance yet,” he explained.
Some media also questioned the fact that the government is not seeking compensation from the company and decided, instead, for a termination of the contract by mutual agreement.
The Secretary blamed the 2018 contract provisions, saying this contract does not contain any provisions regarding penalties other than a suspension or, in more serious cases, the termination of the MJC’s operating license.
He also claimed that other duties related to some MOP1.25 billion to be invested by the company in benefiting the facilities and diversifying the activities are difficult to calculate and it “makes no sense to force the company to increase the investment when they have already filled for the termination of the contract.”
For the Secretary the decline of horse racing betting is easily explained by the decline in interest in these activities worldwide as well as with “the lack of local culture in such type of activity,” he said, contrary to what happens in neighboring regions like Hong Kong.
Cheong noted that the major concerns of the government at this moment that led to the signing, yesterday, of the agreement for the termination of the contract with MJC are only two and that they are related.
The first is with the wellbeing of the workers and ensuring that their labor rights are fully fulfilled and the second, the proper relocation and treatment of the 289 horses currently within the premises.
A “sad day” of “difficult” decisions, MJC says
In a different press conference held yesterday afternoon at the MJC, the company released a statement justifying the decision to close doors due to the continuous accumulation of debts related to the decreased interest in racing activities.
Rui Cunha read the statement (in the Portuguese language) representing the board of directors, noting the sad realization and the difficulty of the decision of the company to abandon operations.
He also noted that the company will “keep the facilities operating for the use of the club members” over the period between the end of the races (March 31, 2024) and the final handing of the facilities to the government that will happen one year later.
He also thanked all collaborators, partners and horse owners for the support they have always shown and the members of the MJC for their great professionalism and dedication.
“The company will also organize timely sessions with all staff members to find those affected new job opportunities and pay the due compensation according to the Labor Law,” Cunha said.
He added that in the upcoming days, the MJC will be in contact with all horse owners to assist them on the best solution for the relocation of their horses.
Before the start of the press conference, the company had informed the media that the representatives would not take any questions.
Anima’s concerns shift to Jockey Club’s many cats
Local animal welfare organization Anima Macau has expressed satisfaction about the decision of the end of the Macau Jockey Club (MJC) concession and the finish of horse racing in the territory.
In an interview with the Times, the president of Anima Macau, Zoe Tang, said, “We are very happy [with this outcome] as it has been an Anima long-term fight [to have the Jockey Club closed]. It was a nonsense to keep [the] concession,” she said, adding, “It was a good decision for the community and the horses. Their conditions were very bad, especially for the retired horses.”
However, the closing of the MJC carries another issue related to animal welfare as Tang also explained to the Times.
“As far as we know the Macau Jockey Club has a lot of cats [in their premises]. Anima is going to contact the person who feeds them daily to see what we can do to help in tasks such as desexing them or collecting them [].”
In a previous interview with the Times, the former president and current honorary life president of the animal rights protection group, Albano Martins, had explained that at the closure of the MJC there would be a problem related to the cats.
He said the company kept cats in its stables to deal with rats which could scare the horses, causing them, in some cases, to injure themselves.
According to Tang, there would currently be some hundred cats living inside the stable facilities of the MJC, which will soon require assistance.
Anima sets a new goal: to close Macau Slaughterhouse
With the closing of the Canidrome first, and now the announced closing of the Jockey Club, two of the main goals of Anima, the group is turning its attention to another issue, Tang explained to the Times.
“[We hope that] the next decision [from the government] should be to shut down the slaughterhouse as it is also a nonsens[ical] activity in Macau,” the president said.
The local slaughterhouse operates under the public-owned company Macau Slaughter House Ltd in a facility located at Ilha Verde.
According to the statistics provided by the company, 99,464 animals were slaughtered in Macau in 2023, of which 98,017 were pigs and 1,447 beef cattle.
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