THE MACAU METRO MONITOR, DECEMBER 11, 2013

EIGHT GAMING VENUES SUBMIT SMOKING REDUCTION PLAN Macau Business Daily

The Health Bureau said last night only eight of 14 current gaming venues that previously failed a second round of air quality checks in smoking zones have said how they will respond to punitive action by the government.  The sites that submitted plans yesterday were:  VIP Legend (SJM license), Diamond (SJM licence), StarWorld, MPEL (Royal Mocha, Mocha Taipa Square, Mocha Golden Dragon, Mocha Sintra, and Mocha’s Casino Taipa Square).

Those failing venues that have not yet submitted plans to reduce their smoking areas are all SJM-licensed, namely: Jimei; Emperor Palace Casino; Lan Kwai Fong; Kam Pek; Golden Dragon and Grandview Casino.

The Health Bureau didn’t say what specific action those meeting the deadline for smoke zone reduction had proposed. Nor did it state what further sanction – if any – would be faced by those that missed last night’s deadline.

Publicly, VIP Legend has suggested airport-style smoking rooms with no gaming machines or tables.  

GOVT HAS NO INTENTION TO INCREASE GAMBLING CONCESSIONS Macau Daily Times, Macau News

Secretary Tam said that the government is not at this stage considering increasing the number of gambling concession recipients during their review of the concession system in 2015 and 2016.  “We’ve said that we are going to conduct a review in 2015 and 2016. But the issues that we will be considering do not include whether or not to increase the number of concessionaires”, said the Secretary.  He added that part of the criteria to determine how many gambling tables a concessionaire will be allowed includes the proportion of non-gambling elements in their projects. 

SJM’s concession and MGM’s sub-concession expire in 2020. For everyone else, it’s 2022.

FRANCIS TAM CRITICIZES SLOT MACHINE PARLOR SHUTTLE BUSES Macau Daily Times

Secretary Tam said, "We would like to reiterate the original intention (of the regulations) to the gambling corporations. No matter what manner the slot machine parlors are operating in, the dispatchment of shuttle buses to transport customers can be said to be a violation of our intention to remove slot machine parlors from the community."  He continued to speculate on the reasons behind the violations: “I think they (the gambling corporations) understand the intention of the government. But they might not realize that this practice (the sending of shuttle buses) is against the original purpose that they agreed upon,” said the Secretary.