Melco Crown refutes accusation of smoking control breaches

Gaming operator Melco Crown Entertainment (MCE) has stated that its casinos comply with Macau’s tobacco control laws. This response was made following a recent accusation that the operator had breached a newly enforced smoking ban by allowing gamblers to smoke in some high-betting areas in mass gaming premises.
The operator stressed in a statement yesterday that its “casinos are operated in compliance with Macau legal requirements and with requisite governmental approvals,” adding that “certain inaccurate information” about the company’s operations claimed by the Macao Federation of Trade Unions (FAOM) “were not entirely correct.”
The FAOM held a press conference with three of its affiliated casino employee unions on Monday, indicating that MCE’s City of Dreams and Altira Macau casinos had converted some high-betting areas in mass floors into VIP rooms. Mass floor customers would be allowed to enter freely and gamblers would be allowed to smoke there.
In response, the company stated, “none of MCE’s gaming operations where smoking is allowed are located in the common gaming areas of casinos; instead, all MCE gaming operations which allow smoking comply with every operational and technical requirement to qualify as Restricted Access Gaming Areas, as defined by the most recent regulations.”
Yesterday afternoon, the Health Bureau director Lei Chin Ion along with several tobacco control inspectors conducted a surprise inspection at City of Dreams casino, and issued a verbal word of advice that “no- smoking” signs should be posted in its newly converted VIP room.
Lei confirmed that COD made applications to turn high-betting zones that were previously operated as part of the mass gaming area into a VIP room.
The Secretary for Economy and Finance, Francis Tam, also responded to the matter yesterday, stressing that setting up any high-betting zones, whether in mass gaming areas or VIP rooms, requires the approval of the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ). Permission to smoke on the premises needs to be requested at the Health Bureau.
“When a high-betting zone is approved to be set up, it doesn’t automatically become a smoking zone,” he stressed, adding that there was no shirking of responsibilities in smoking control between related authorities. BY