Macau’s top gaming regulator, Manuel Joaquim das Neves, will resign his post before the end of the month, he reportedly told a radio network in the gaming mecca.
According to the Asia Gaming Brief, Neves has been head of the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau since 1997, and has been in government since 1984.
“After 31 years as a civil servant, 18 as Gaming Inspection Bureau director, I believe it’s time to take a break and spend more time with my family,” Neves told TDM.
Neves presided over the explosion of the gambling industry in the territory and saw the first foreign-owned casinos come to Macau. He is leaving under difficult circumstances, as Macau grapples with a 16-month plummet in gaming revenues, which was caused by Chinese President Xi Jinping’s sweeping anti-corruption campaign. Critics of Macau oversight have suggested a better regulated industry would have avoided this scrutiny from the central government.
No successor has yet been named, AGB reported.
