Macau media reports say Secretary for Economy and Finance Lionel Leong Vai Tac has announced a successor for outgoing gaming regulator Joaquim das Neves, who will exit the job November 25. The new regulatory chief will be Paulo Martins Chan, assistant prosecutor-general.
Chan will become head of the Gambling Inspection and Coordination Bureau on December 1.
“After approval by Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On this morning and the consent of Prosecutor-General Ip Son Sang, the Office of Secretary for Economy and Finance will appoint Mr. Paulo Martins Chan as the new director of the Gaming Inspection and Co-ordination Bureau,” Leong told reporters November 13, according to CalvinAyre.com.
Chan has a bachelor’s degree in law and a master’s degree in criminal law, reported the Asia Gaming Brief. He was nominated as a magistrate for the Public Prosecutions Office in 1999 by former Macau chief executive Edmund Ho Hau Wah. He is also bilingual, speaking both Chinese and Portuguese.
Leong said Chan will work to strengthen gaming-related regulations during a period of extraordinary recession. The world’s No. 1 gaming mecca is in the 17th month of an historic decline, due to an ongoing anti-corruption drive in Mainland China, a slower Chinese economy and increased official scrutiny of junket runners, who arrange travel, accommodations and lines of credit for VIP gamblers.
Gross gaming revenue monthly for the first 10 months of 2015 was MOP196.07 billion (US$24.6 billion), down 35.5 percent compared to the same period in 2014, reported AGB.
