Macau residents’ gambling participation rate decreases

DICJ Director Paulo Martins Chan speaking at the responsible gambling event yesterday

Fewer Macau residents are taking to gambling, according to the latest responsible gambling work report published jointly by the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ), Social Affairs Bureau (IAS) and the University of Macau (UM).

Macau residents’ gambling participation rate decreased from 67.9 percent in 2003 to 51.5 percent in 2016, the latest year for which data was collected, according to a study that surveyed 2,000 local people. Extrapolated, that means that, as of 2016, more than half of the population wagered at least one bet during the course of the year.

Since the government launched the responsible gambling promotional campaign back in 2009, Macau residents’ participation rate in casino gambling has decreased from 20.7 percent in 2010 to 10.4 percent in 2016.

A survey conducted by UM in 2016 showed that 51 among the 2,000 people surveyed had a gambling disorder. UM estimated, based on the aforementioned number, that there could be as many as 14,102 Macau residents with gambling disorders.

In addition, the city’s gaming operators provided statistics of gambling disorder assistance phone requests to the DICJ. According to them, in 2017, gaming operators received 41 requests concerning gambling disorders. Moreover, there were 11 face-to-face gambling disorder assistance requests. Phone call assistance requests have been increasing since 2015. 

Other assistance requests were made through WeChat and email, among other methods.

In 2017, gaming operators transferred six gambling disorder cases to specialized treatment organizations.

In the whole year of 2017, IAS’s 24-hour hotline and online gambling guidance services offered assistance in 1,206 and 1,480 occurrences, respectively.

Also in 2017, 157 people registered in the IAS’s central registration system of gambling disorder. In 2016 and 2015, 141 and 147 people had registered. In 2017, 376 people were banned from entering casinos.

According to the city’s law, any individual can apply to the DICJ director to ban themselves from entering some or all casinos. The same application can be made by their qualified relatives. Such a ban lasts two years at most.

In 2017, 316 individuals made the applications themselves, while 60 applications were made by relatives. In 2015 and in 2016, 355 and 351 people respectively, had approval issued by the DICJ director to be separated from casinos.

In 2017, the city’s social service organizations spent a total of MOP27 million in events related to responsible gambling. IAS alone fully sponsored a gambling disorder prevention project, having invested MOP23 million into the project.

The total expenditure has been increasing over the past three years. In 2015, the total expenditure was MOP18 million. The next year, the expenditure climbed to MOP23 million. JZ