Study suggests casinos to increase scale of donations

The Macau University of Science and Technology and the Macau Tourism Association jointly launched a report on both the 2011-2017 Macau Gaming Corporate Philanthropy Responsibility Development and the 2011-2017 Macau Gaming Enterprise Charity Donations Ranking.

According to the report, between 2011 and 2017, charitable donations from the city’s six gaming operations totaled HKD1.557 billion, representing an average increase of 6.48 percent, and accounting for 0.085 percent of these companies’ total revenue.

Since 2014, charity donations and gaming operators’ revenue have fluctuated, in general, at the same pace.

Traditional charitable organizations or funds, for instance the Tong Sin Tong, Macao Holy House of Mercy and the Macau Daily News readers’ charity fund, receive the majority of donations from gaming operators.

Lin Guangzhi, director of the Institute for Social and Cultural Research, said that gaming operators lack consistent standards in terms of their donations.

The report indicates that these donations also need to be more open and transparent.

Moreover, gaming operators are criticized in the sense that they should increase the scale and effectiveness of their donations. The report also noted that donations from local gaming operators to mainland are “rather small.”

In conclusion, the report suggests for the SAR government to pay attention to the recognition and evaluation of donations by gaming operators, which should establish further departments, in particular for addressing charity matters.

Between 2011 and 2017, the top three donating gaming operators were Wynn Macau, Galaxy Entertainment Group and Sands China.