Macau woes continue with added measures

A directive from Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (GICB) informs junket operators of the introduction of a new measure that requires them to be in possession of a clean certificate of criminal record from VIP gambling clients before opening their accounts, effective January 1, 2015.

“This could really impose a big impact on new VIP gaming clients, especially those from mainland China as the new measure would mean more inconvenience for them to have an account here to issue commissions [to promoters] or withdraw gaming capital, and they can only rely on local gaming promoters,” an unnamed VIP gambling industry source was quoted saying by the Macau Business Daily.

The latest measure follows a series of others that include China’s Ministry of Public Security gaining access to transfers made through the China UnionPay card system in a concerted drive to clamp down on money laundering.

According to the newly inducted Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lionel Leong Vai Tac, the Government will continue to focus on regulating the pace of gaming development and monitoring the flow of money through Macau.

“For our upcoming tasks, I believe that to regulate and monitor the [gaming] sector is very important,” Leong said in a press conference late last week.  “We’ll seek to regulate the development pace [of casinos] so that they grow at a reasonable scale.

“We’ll also monitor the industry, including the in and outflow of the capital involved, and see to their human resource allocation – with all of these I believe that can assist us in monitoring the industry better, and making sure that the sector is healthy.”

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