Prosecutions up 20 percent
The Macau Federation of Trade Unions or FAOM, which represents the city’s casino workers, has asked the government to increase its enforcement of the industry’s new stricter smoking rules; crack down on those who light up in no-smoking zones; and pay special attention to VIP rooms, where tobacco use is reportedly still prevalent.
A report from the Macau News Agency says FAOM union officials met with the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, known locally as the DICJ, to discuss the effects and challenges of the revised smoking ban. They asked officials to establish a complaint hotline so gaming workers can report infractions of the new rules, which were announced in January 2018 and took effect a year later, on January 1, 2019.
The report indicated that the situation has improved with the implementation of the new smoking rules, but smoking “still heavily takes place at VIP gaming rooms,” with Health Bureau statistics for the first half of January showing an increased prosecution rate of 20 percent over 2018. Inspections were reportedly doubled in that period with the Tobacco Control Office executing more than 150 casino patrols and prosecuting 105 people for illegal smoking.
A statement from the union singled out the VIP rooms at Wynn Palace, Wynn Macau, SJM Holdings and MGM as “the top black spots” for illegal smoking. VIP junket operators Suncity Group, Meg-Star Group and GuangDong Group have been accused of providing cigarettes and lighters to guests and forbidding employees to remind guests that smoking in restricted areas is not allowed. In addition, the FAOM says several casinos have opened unapproved smoking rooms for their guests.
DICJ Deputy Director Leong Man Ion cited manpower shortages as one reason the infractions continue, but promised to step up on-location inspections and consider installing the hotline. GGRAsia reports that Macau has only 4 percent of the enforcement officers the city would need to monitor the city’s many gaming floors properly and check compliance. Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Alexis Tam Chon Weng recently told the Legislative Assembly that there are only 67 enforcement officers checking casinos, while more than 1,880 are needed.
Speaking at the January 21 assembly meeting, Tang Chi Ho, head of the Tobacco Prevention and Control Office, said in one instance a casino security worker immediately informed gaming operations of the arrival of a tobacco control team, even before it had stepped into the property’s lobby.
The issue has proven fractious for staff, who must face off with patrons accustomed to lighting up at will. In one highly publicized incident, on January 1 a security officer got into a scuffle with two men smoking at Galaxy Macau; the officer eventually discharged his gun in a warning shot to the smokers.
