Legislative Assembly | Lawmakers call on casino operators to do more for diversification

Some of Macau’s lawmakers called yesterday for gaming operators to do more to contribute toward the economic diversification of the city ahead of the concession expiry date in June 2022.
The call came after lawmaker Si Ka Lon raised the topic of economic diversification, prompting nearly a dozen lawmakers to voice their opinion that casino operators needed to do more to support the diversification objectives of the city.
Paulo Martins Chan, director of the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ), was at the Legislative Assembly yesterday. There he declared that the non-gaming aspects of casino operators will be studied, among other criteria, when the future gaming concessions are reviewed.
The long-discussed policy objective has once again returned to public interest amid a Covid-19-induced economic decline that will be aggravated in Macau because of the industrial weight of the casino sector. Revenue from gambling activities, which directly account for approximately half of Macau’s economy, were down 50% during the first two months of the year.
Lawmakers such as Ma Chi Seng, Pang Chuan, Chui Sai Peng, Wang Sai Man, and Si Ka Lon, yesterday called for greater “non-gaming aspects” and suggested that the concessionaires should help other local businesses.
Hosting more sports events and exhibitions, and working to attract a greater variety in international visitors are among the efforts that lawmakers believe will help local businesses. They believe that the casino operators have a role to play in these efforts.
Lawmaker Si Ka Lon said that he wants the gaming operators to provide “relief” to help specific sectors in Macau. Chui Sai Peng hopes that gaming operators will invest in businesses in the arts sector, for instance, as Macau’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) do not have the resources to invest in or support other local SMEs. Pang Chuan wants gaming companies to help the technology industry so the industry can in turn supply these companies with slot machines and other products and services.
However, while the majority of lawmakers want gaming operators to do more to help other businesses, lawmaker Davis Fong defended the casino operators by saying that Macau itself should “further develop the gaming industry.”
According to Fong, who is also a gaming scholar, Macau has one sector known worldwide, and that sector is gaming. The industry has brought advanced technologies to Macau and allowed the city to experiment with other drivers of the economy, including integrated resorts that offer shopping, entertainment and eateries. This has been brought to Macau in part by the foreign casino operators, which invested heavily in the city.
“Why did we invite foreign-capital? Because we wanted technology transfer. Now, we have learned enough about their integrated resorts, shopping and catering,” said Fong, who specializes in gaming industry research. “Now is the right time for Macau’s gaming industry to be upgraded to another level because gaming companies can bring even more technologies to Macau.”
Following Fong, Wang Sai Man acknowledged that Macau’s integrated resorts are not only attractive to tourists but also to Macau’s local market. “Sometimes, even when gaming companies do a free-parking promotion, the promotion attracts consumers who normally [shop] in the old areas of Macau,” said Wang.
In response to the lawmakers, DICJ director Paulo Martins Chan said that his personal understanding of economic diversification was that non-gaming aspects should include other parts of the economy distinct from that directly introduced by casino operators.
The latest government-issued report on economic diversification found that gaming and junket activities accounted for over half of Macau’s industrial structure in 2018. The report, released in December last year, concluded that the heavy-weight sector had a value added of 220.8 billion patacas and an industrial share of 50.52%, breaching the 50% level for the first time since 2014, when it accounted for over 58%.