Lei Wai Nong has spoken about the shutdown of VIP rooms in the city and how it will affect Macau’s economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Macau.- Lei Wai Nong<\/strong>, Macau\u2019s secretary for economy and finance, has made his first public comments following the closure of VIP rooms at the city’s casinos. He said the development would undoubtedly impact on Macau’s unemployment rate. However, he said that the local gaming sector was moving towards a \u201chealthy and sustainable development”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n His comments came when he was asked about recent incidents involving SunCity after the meeting of the Standing Committee of Social Affairs Coordination. Suncity CEO Alvin Chau Cheok Wa<\/a> has been arrested on accusations related to cross-border gambling. Suncity has closed all of its VIP rooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wynn Macau<\/a>\u00a0plans to close all of its VIP rooms\u00a0<\/strong>from December 20 while\u00a0Tak Chun<\/a>, the second-largest junket operator in Macau, has confirmed that some casino operators have decided to temporarily suspend their partnerships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nong said: \u201cThe unemployment rate in September, October was 3.8 per cent. The closure of the junkets will certainly have an impact and we will concentrate our efforts on overcoming these difficulties.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, he pointed out that Macau\u2019s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) has established communication with local gaming franchisees to assess the situation of the affected workers.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Macau Business, he said: “Workers in gaming concessionaires will not be impacted due to the VIP room closures since they are directly employed by the gaming operators, such as croupiers, security or supervisors.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n “As for the workers directly employed by the junkets, gaming promoters have to assure their labour rights are respected. Including, drivers and other workers. We will provide help to them.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL) has opened a special counter to assist employees affected by the\u00a0closure of Suncity\u2019s VIP rooms<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Asked about the government’s plans for the local gaming industry, Lei Wai Nong emphasised the government’s commitment to “healthy and sustainable” development.\u00a0He said authorities are focusing on\u00a0increasing infrastructure investment<\/strong>, expanding domestic demand and the source of tourists next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said: “The current gaming law was created 20 years and did not cover some issues. We will adjust its regulations and hear the opinions of society, including the gaming sector. We are preparing the consultation report and the bill will advance according to the projected timeline. Then we will advance with other works.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n In November,\u00a0Ho Iat Seng, Macau\u2019s chief executive<\/a>\u00a0said the revision of Macau\u2019s gaming laws would involve nine main topics, including the end of\u00a0the current sub-concession system<\/a>\u00a0that led to the creation of three additional Macau casino licences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government wants\u00a0to increase the oversight of gaming concessionaires and junket operations<\/strong>, but it will maintain at least six gaming concessions. It’s not clear if the revision of Macau\u2019s gaming law will be finished before current casino licences expire\u00a0in June 2022<\/strong>, meaning licences may well be extended.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lei Wai Nong has spoken about the shutdown of VIP rooms in the city and how it will affect Macau’s economy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":25557,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Macau's Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lei Wai Nong, addressed the economic impact of VIP room closures, particularly concerning junket operations and potential unemployment, while emphasizing a shift towards \"healthy and sustainable development.\" Concurrently, the government is revising its gaming laws to increase oversight of concessionaires and junkets, potentially ending the sub-concession system, with implications for existing licenses expiring in June 2022.","focusai_entities":"Lei Wai Nong, Suncity, Alvin Chau Cheok Wa, Wynn Macau, Tak Chun, Ho Iat Seng, Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ), Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL), Standing Committee of Social Affairs Coordination","focusai_location":"Macau","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.95), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (1.0), investor_analyst (0.95), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Concession System Impact","query":"How will the proposed end of Macau's sub-concession system impact the operational structures and market share distribution among the existing gaming concessionaires and their sub-concessionaires?"},{"label":"License Renewal Strategy","query":"Given the uncertainty surrounding the completion of gaming law revisions before June 2022, what specific interim measures or license extension strategies are Macau authorities considering to ensure market stability?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[157,16338,158],"tags":[23906],"class_list":["post-25519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news","category-east-asia-news","category-slider-home","tag-macau-casinos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25519"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25532,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25519\/revisions\/25532"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Macau’s revision of gaming laws<\/h2>\n\n\n\n