At least three of Macau’s casino concessions are ceasing or curtailing the services they offer their customers in China for fear of violating the country’s criminalization of anything that might be perceived as an inducement to overseas gambling.
A report in English-language magazine Macau Business said Wynn Macau has disbanded its customer service team on the mainland and has fired some staff and put others on unpaid leave. MGM China also suspended its operations, while Melco Resorts and Entertainment has instructed its staff to use business cards that do not contain wording related to casinos or gaming.
An amendment to China’s criminal law promulgated on March 1 established specific penalties for anyone who “organizes” the country’s citizens for the purpose of traveling outside China to gamble.
Prior to the law taking effect, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced that it was compiling a “blacklist” of gambling destinations declared off-limits to mainland citizens, and in January, announced that the list, whose contents have not been disclosed, was being expanded.
Generally, analysts and observers have surmised the list mainly targets jurisdictions such as the Philippines, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam. The wording of the amendment to criminal code is much broader, however, and covers any gambling “outside the country’s (borders),” inviting the possibility that Macau could be included in some way.
In that regard, Sands China President Wilfred Wong, for one, noted in a recent earnings call that that the amendment is fraught with “ambiguity.”
