Macao's waning casinos
- By Zhang Lulu
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E-mail China.org.cn, January 7, 2015
According to gambling agent Wilson, though businessmen from the mainland constitute a considerable number of the players, officials are more welcome by the agents as they tend to be high rollers. "Few officials come by themselves, and even if they do, they keep a rather low profile. Those who are entertained by business firms are the real big gamblers. They don't care if they lose, as the money is not theirs. They can spend hundreds of thousands of yuan per game. Now there are few of them in the VIP parlors."
"You can feel that there are fewer and fewer officials from the mainland. It is not just officials. Businessmen from the mainland are rarely seen now…Mainland players constitute less than 30 percent of the VIP gamblers," Wilson said.
Apart from the anti-corruption campaign, the VIP business has also been impaired by other regulation measures, including the restrictions on using UnionPay cards in casinos and the shortened duration of stays in Macao for mainland visitors.
Macao tightened its restrictions on passports in June this year, shortening the duration of each stay from seven days to five. In December, Zhuhai, the city from which mainlanders travel to Macao, announced that passport holders travelling to Macao must submit corresponding flight tickets within the required duration period. For agents like Wilson, the requirements make business more difficult.
Adjustment and diversification
As the pillar industry of Macao's economy, the gaming business not only contributes a large amount of taxes, but also creates a lot of jobs. Statistics show that nearly 6 million people are employed in the industry, and another 3 million provide services to the industry.
But the high-speed development also creates problems. Since the monopoly system on gambling was lifted in 2002, a large amount of foreign capital has flown into Macao, funding the construction of one luxury casino after another. This pushed up house prices, which increased the cost of goods. The inflation rate in Macao topped 6 percent in 2011, and has remained at around this level.
Besides, like many cities with a high economic growth rate, the land-strapped territory faces conflicts between the rapid growing population and the need for infrastructure and public services.
In a speech delivered on the 15th anniversary of Macao's handover from Portugal to China, President Xi Jinping mapped out two approaches to development in Macao. He urged Macao to enhance and improve supervision of the gaming industry and foster new growth points. At the same time he said the Chinese territory should deepen its cooperation with the mainland, especially neighboring Guangdong Province and the Pan-Pearl River Delta region.
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