Unions accuse Melco Crown of breaching mass floor smoking ban

Gaming operator Melco Crown Entertainment has been accused of breaching the mass floor full smoking ban in two of its casinos, two weeks after the implementation of the newly enforced policy.
“In the first two weeks, we were very satisfied with the new ban’s implementation, but now there have been some changes that impose a bigger threat to casino workers’ health,” said Mr Choi Kam Fu, director-general of the Macau Gaming Enterprises Staff’s Association, at a press conference held by three casino employee unions affiliated with the FAOM yesterday.
Employees of Melco Crown’s City of Dreams and Altira Macau have complained to the Macao Federation of Trade Unions (FAOM) that some high-betting areas in the casinos’ mass gaming floors have permitted gamblers to smoke again.
Lawmaker Lei Cheng I, who spoke as the director of FAOM’s Department of Rights and Interests, criticized the two casinos for “exploiting legal loopholes” and “challenging the government’s law enforcement.”
According to Lei, smoking had been prohibited in those areas since October 6 when a full smoking ban in casino mass areas was put into effect. However, “the operators suddenly started to allow smoking in there again.”
“On October 21, the staff members of the City of Dreams got an oral notification saying that smoking would be allowed [in a high-betting area] from 11 o’clock onwards in the evening. All the mass floor guests can freely enter that area to smoke,” she claimed.
Meanwhile, an entire floor (Floor 1M) in Altira Macau that was previously operating as a mass floor was converted into a ‘VIP area’ that has permitted smoking since October 22.
“In order to ‘meet’ the so-called definition of ‘VIP rooms,’ the operator started to request that guests register membership for entering this area; it’s also using ‘promotional tokens’ to act as the VIP room tokens there,” she accused.
“The government has clearly stated that it’s not approving new smoking areas to be set up. We are concerned that such violations against the smoking ban might ‘infect’ other casino operators,” the lawmaker stressed, adding that the union urged the Health Bureau on October 24 to resolve these breaches immediately.
Some employees working in the high-betting areas said they were “shocked” by these changes and that their working environment has even worsened compared with before the full smoking ban came into force.
“Such breaches resulted in more guests going into the high-
betting areas, where the concentration of smoke got higher, and a greater workload was put upon the staff,” explained Mr Choi.
“The Health Bureau director Lei Chin Ion has repeatedly reiterated the principle that smoking areas are no longer allowed to be set up in the mass gaming premises, whether the premise is an open space or includes high-betting areas that are seperated by partitions,” he added.
Besides appealing for a thorough and strict implementation of the smoking ban in high-betting areas, the union representatives also advocate prohibiting smoking in all areas within casinos. Brook Yang