Mid-term gaming industry review to conclude this year

The Studio City casino resort, developed by Melco Crown Entertainment

The government expects its mid-term review of the city’s gaming industry to be complete within this year, the Secretary for Economy and Finance announced on Friday. According to Lionel Leong, the findings of this report will be made public by early next year.
The mid-term review aims to identify the main achievements of the city’s six gaming concessions since the liberalization of the industry in 2002, in order to gain a sense of direction for the coming years. The six concessions will expire between 2020 and 2022.
Mr Leong was speaking on the sidelines of the inauguration of Ms Cristina Morais as the new Coordinator of the Supporting Office to the Permanent Secretariat of the Forum for Economic and Trade Co-operation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Macau).
In addition, the secretary also said that he was “considering candidates for the role of Director of the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.” As previously reported by the Times, the current director, Manuel Neves, is due to retire this month, leaving the deputy director, Leong Man Ion, with the task of leading the bureau in the interim period before a replacement is appointed.
“The existing structure of governance in the public administration allows us to accommodate changes to the management of a particular bureau without affecting its operations and the quality of its service,” the secretary stressed.
Questioned by the press, Mr Leong revealed that no other senior officials under his portfolio had asked to leave. However, he added that the government would respect the decision of any other official who wished to leave public service, if that were to happen in the future.
Another topic considered by the secretary at the same event was Macau’s Wealth Partaking Scheme. Mr Leong said he was “confident there would be an adequate amount of accumulated funds during the year to continue the measure in 2016,” while noting that “the maintenance of favorable economic conditions was one of the major factors to be considered in order to guarantee the scheme’s continuation.”