The Macau Health Bureau has approved smoking rooms in five more casinos, bringing the total to 17 providing the airport-style lounges since the industry went smoke-free in all public gaming areas on October 6.
Twenty-eight casinos and machine gaming parlors have asked for permission to install smoking rooms. There are 35 casinos market-wide and five machine gaming venues.
The delay in approvals appears to stem from the fact that the ban is comprehensive, covering all public spaces, whereas operators were counting on flexible restrictions that would have allowed them to create smoking sections on their main floors around higher-limit tables. This is based on a provision in the rules that is supposed to permit smoking in areas “that are of limited access to specific games and gamblers”. Instead the government is adhering to a memo it issued on 30th September that treats the ban literally and restricts all smoking to detached, fully enclosed rooms.
Analysts are not certain how the stricter rules will shake out in terms of gaming revenue. Most are forecasting only a short-term impact until all the smoking lounges are built and approved, and gamblers and operators have time to adjust. But there are concerns as the ban has come into force in the wake of four straight months of declining revenue growth that have raised questions about the resiliency of the city’s vaunted mass market. Private VIP rooms are exempt from the ban.
