Suncity chairman | VIPs irreplaceable, full-smoking ban to cause 16 pct drop

Although the closure of some VIP rooms in Macau was to be “expected,” the mass market will not be able to replace the VIP sector, according to Suncity Group owner and Chairman Alvin Chau Cheok Wa. “If there are no VIP rooms, [despite] the proportion of the mass market getting bigger, the drop in gaming revenue will remain serious,” Chau said in an interview with local Chinese media outlet Macau Asia Satellite Television. Stressing that the VIP sector remains crucial for the whole gaming industry, with VIP business revenue forming the majority of total gaming revenue, Chau anticipates that the VIP sector will see a revenue drop of 15 percent or more when the recently announced full smoking ban is implemented in 2016. “Even Singapore, with its strict government, let gaming operators build indoor smoking rooms inside the casino when it opened the gaming market, [so that there are] smoking areas and non-smoking areas,” he said.