Macau: More regulations

Macau --

More gaming regulations

Lawmaker Ho Ion Sang questioned the secretary about the plans to relocate slot machine establishments from residential areas and to raise the casino age limit to 21.
Ho said the number of slot machines and the revenue have jumped at least four-fold since 2005, and retired people and housewives are prone to getting addicted to slot machine gambling.

The secretary clarified that the plans were not put on hold, disclosing that the two draft laws have already entered the legislative process, with the one relating to slot machine venue relocation currently being deliberated in the Executive Council.

Lawmaker Melinda Chan Mei Yi suggested prohibiting casinos from sending promotional text messages to Macau residents and the operations of casino courtesy buses. Tam said they can be taken into consideration but did not comment further.

In response to a number of lawmakers’ concerns about the labour shortage problem among the local small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), Tam encouraged SMEs to hire more skilled workers, in addition to unskilled imported labour, to help expand the business and assure sustainable development.

He denied that the Government has given priority to gaming operators or other large-scale enterprises in the approval of migrant workers.

“The number of imported labour, including those working in the construction sites, hired by the six gaming operators is about 14,000, less than 20 percent of the total employees,” he added.

The recent Policy Address announced that the Government will review the Labour Relations Law and the Imported Labour Law in 2011.

The secretary said the Standing Committee for the Coordination of Social Affairs and the special Imported Labour Law working group will be responsible to study the implementation of the two laws and make suggestions for their revision. However, no further details were disclosed.

The inflows of hot money was another issue that concerned the lawmakers. The secretary stressed that the Government will keep a close eye on the situation.