New DICJ pledges to reorganise the gaming industry in Macau

Paulo Chan vows to revamp and optimize the city’s gaming industry in order to promote its international competitiveness

Macau.- Former Assistant Public Prosecutor-General Paulo Martins Chan was sworn in on December 1st as the new director of the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ.)

Lionel Leong, the Secretary for Economy and Finance appointed Mr. Chan as gaming regulator’s new head, who will oversee the gaming industry in the region, currently troubled by economic downs and corruption cases, and will work in order to improve its legal framework.“I believe the bureau under Chan’s management will continue optimizing gaming laws and regulation and related guidelines as well as better its department’s functions,” said Leong at the ceremony.

Besides strengthening the international competitiveness of the industry, Chan, as head of the DICJ, will empower the bureau to act upon the challenges the industry faces in the future. “The gaming industry, which is going through a phase of adjustment after many years of rapid development, requires an improved legal framework,” Chan said.

The Secretary for Economy and Finance expressed days before that the gaming industry needed more audits and legal manpower, and Chan said he was confident that he could meet this demand. “If we could lay down the rules of the game, everyone would know what to follow,” expressed Mr. Chan at the ceremony. “If something went wrong, penalties would follow. We also resort to the established set of regulations to settle conflicts.”

“On the basis of the mid-term review of the gaming industry here, I’ll fully examine the gaming related laws and the internal guidelines for VIP gaming promoters.” Chan added.

The newly appointed director succeeds Manuel Joaquim Das Neves, who led the bureau since 1997 until November 25, when he retired. Chan has an impressive judiciary background: he has a bachelor’s degree in law and a master’s degree in criminal law and has worked in the public service since 1995. He was nominated as a prosecutor for the Public Prosecutions Office in 1998. After eleven years, he was appointed as an assistant public prosecutor-general.