Paulo Martins Chan is resigning as head of Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ).
He will be succeeded by Adriano Marques Ho, an advisor to Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak, according to a Macau News Agency report. Ho formerly was in charge of the unit of the government’s Judiciary Police investigating gaming-related and economic crimes. He also served for several years as head of the local division of the China National Central Bureau of Interpol.
Chan, who as a former government prosecutor has a similar background in law enforcement, has served a little over four years as head of the DICJ, as the inspectorate is known by its Portuguese initials. He will be returning to the Public Prosecutions Office, according to local news reports.
Chan took over as top casino regulator in December 2015 in the midst of an official campaign across mainland China targeting corruption and lavish spending by government and Communist Party officials. High-rolling gamblers got the message and went on hiatus. VIP gambling revenues, which at the time accounted for around two-thirds of total winnings, plummeted.
The junkets that facilitate the high-end trade through various underground banking means found themselves in an unwelcome spotlight and dozens went out of business. Accordingly, Chan’s tenure was marked by a tightening of gaming regulations, especially as it applied to the junkets, and he is credited with bringing greater transparency and supervision to what largely had been an opaque and loosely managed system.
Chan assumed his position in a tough period during the need to adjust the development path of the industry,” Ricardo Siu, a professor of business administration at the University of Macau, told MNA. “Nevertheless, he did a great job by employing his professional knowledge in the legal area to launch a number of revisions and improvements of the existing regulatory framework.”
In the bigger picture, the crackdown gave fresh impetus to calls to hasten Macau’s development into a more diverse resort-style destination with a greater focus on mass-market tourism, and he is leaving at a time when all eyes are focused on how this will play out when the current six casino concessions expire in 2022.
While it’s widely expected the concessions will be renewed, Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng has said an open tender will be conducted without any restrictions on bidders. A public consultation is slated for later this year on proposals for amending existing gaming law to govern this process.
