As of last week, five of six Macau gaming concessionaires had confirmed 2023 bonuses for eligible non-managerial employees.
Staffers employed by Sands China, Wynn Macau, MGM China, Galaxy Entertainment Group and Melco Resorts will receive year-end bonuses, and Sands and Melco have also announced that pay raises are coming in 2024.
Sands China, for example, will distribute bonuses equal to a month’s salary to 99 percent of the company’s workforce, non-management hires who have been on the job for a year or more. Salary increases will kick in on March 1. Managers will receive bonuses according to a management incentive plan.
Asia Gaming Brief quoted Sands China President Wilfred Wong, who said, “Our team members’ resilience and collective spirit have not only guided us through the trials of recent years, but also propelled us into a period of rejuvenation.
“As tourism in Macau resumed after the pandemic, it was their concerted effort that smoothly transitioned our business back to full capacity, breathing life into our spaces once again.
“In light of our achievements, fueled by your dedication, we are excited to express our gratitude through the announcement of the 2023 discretionary bonus award and 2024 salary increase.
Sands, in seeking to protect its workforce from being poached by rival operators, additionally announced a salary increase for full-time employees earning up to MOP13,000 (US$1,618) a month. The pay increases will become effective from March 1 and will increase pay by as much as 5.4%.
Melco is also increasing pay by 2.5 percent from April 1 for the City of Dream’s “non-management colleagues.”
“The bonus payout and base salary increase recognize the dedication, loyalty, and hard work of our eligible non-management colleagues,” said Lawrence Ho, founder, chairman and CEO of Melco Resorts. “We are thankful for all of our colleagues’ commitment and efforts in maintaining Melco’s service excellence and for their delivery of the most memorable experiences to our guests.”
In related news, according to Viacasinos.com, Macau Economy and Finance Secretary Lei Wai Nong has urged operators in the city to boost employee pay as much as they’re able in line with worker performance. “We cannot instruct the casino concessionaires to adjust the salaries,” he said last November, “but we’ve been advising them to share the fruits of the economic recovery with their employees.”
Gross gaming revenue (GGR) for 2023 totaled about $22.7 billion, up more than 330 percent over 2022 and more than double what the casinos won in 2021. While the recovery has been consistent and gratifying, GGR is still far short of 2019 levels, when concessionaires posted more than $36 billion for the year.
In addition, according to Inside Asian Gaming, Lei said concessionaires must hire locally, ensuring a minimum 85 percent of residents among the ranks.
“This ratio is the minimum standard,” he emphasized, “not the maximum standard. It is not difficult to find that some young Macau residents, after years of training, have now become the senior management of the concessionaires.
“One of the considerations of the gaming contracts is to provide employment for Macau residents and the concessionaires have been actively promoting this aspect.”
According to the Statistics and Census Service, the overall jobless rate in Macau stands at 2.3 percent, with the unemployment rate of local residents at 2.9 percent.
