Gov’t to maintain ban on non-local croupiers

2013-10-3

From：Macau Daily Times

Chui Sai On said yesterday that there will be no changes to the regulations concerning croupiers. Chui made his comments whilst talking on the sidelines of a reception given by the Macao Chamber of Commerce to celebrate the PRC anniversary.
The Chief Executive said, as he had previously mentioned in the Legislative Assembly, that the only persons allowed to be croupiers are residents, at least until the end of his current term, which will conclude next year. The Chief Executive added that there are no  plans to change the present regulations.  “I didn’t change my opinion. I can’t comment further on that,” he said.
Chui’s words were corroborated by the Secretary for Economy and Finance, Francis Tam, who even said it was “awkward” that the issue was being raised. The Secretary doubted the accuracy of predictions indicating the need for 10,000 more croupiers. “Do you think that so many will be needed?” he fired back at a journalist. Francis Tam hinted that the introduction of 10,000 more croupiers “would imply the introduction of thousands of tables,” something that, he said, goes against the cap that the Macau government placed on the number of gaming tables.
The biggest winner of the recent legislative election, Chan Meng Kam, also mentioned the issue yesterday during an interview with TDM. The lawmaker reiterated that local workers should be protected and that those who are undergoing training programs should be employed at a faster rate.
Talking to Ou Mun Iat Pou, Davis Fong, director of the Institute for the Study of Commercial Gaming (ISCG) at the University of Macau, expressed disagreement with the ban on non-local croupiers. He cited academic studies from many years ago predicting the opening of dealer positions to foreign workers. During the first few years after the opening of the gaming market in Macau, most dealers were middle-aged workers, according to Fong. In that scenario, the scholar said that the government’s policy to only allow locals to be dealers was reasonable.
Davis Fong doesn’t think that the local market needs to be totally open or totally closed in terms of importing foreign workers as dealers. In his opinion, the local market could try to have three to five percent of dealer positions filled by foreign workers.
This three to five percent arrangement wouldn’t affect unemployment rates, according to Fong: “For some low productivity employees, it could be a push factor, so it could improve the competitiveness of the industry, as well as the service quality,” he said.

Copyright@Macau Daily Times