During the press briefing of the Second Standing Committee of the Legislative Assembly (AL), committee president Chan Chak Mo took the opportunity to clarify some information aired during Monday’s briefing, in which he had mentioned that there was a change promoted to Article 5-C related to the number of gaming tables and gaming machines to be allocated.
Chan said that after his comments of the previous day, the government had notified him that while there was a slight change in the writing of this article, there was no intention to change the policy, which states that is the Chief Executive (CE) who has the power and duty to establish a maximum ceiling for the number of tables and machines to be potentially used by the industry and all the gaming concessionaires.
On Monday, Chan said that the committee had interpreted the new writing as if the CE would regulate, through an order to be published on the government official gazette, the maximum ceiling of the tables and machines to be used for each concessionaire, an interpretation that the government said was incorrect.
Yesterday, Chan clarified that the rule remains unchanged and that after the CE establishes the maximum ceiling for the whole industry the Secretary for Economy and Finance will regulate “according to the conditions and market” how many tables and machines each concessionaire can take.
As explained on previous occasions, each table will be subjected to an evaluation based on its performance against a minimum ceiling of receipt (not yet established). In case the tables requested by the concessionaire and approved by the government cannot reach this minimum of receipt, the concessionaire will have to pay the difference to the government as a special contribution.
This measure aims to control the size of the industry as well as the allocation of an unnecessary number of tables to a concessionaire that does not have enough demand to justify it.
This measure also aims to cool down the market in respect of the demand for certain casino job posts such as croupiers, which is a role that has had in the past a great demand and attractiveness from the local residents, as they were considered “very well paid.”
