Macau’s Secretary for Economy and Finance Francis Tam said the government will not grant any new land for casinos as diversifying the territory’s economy beyond gambling becomes a priority after the Cotai resort district is built out by 2017.
“It will be a consolidation period for the Macau economy and the gambling industry in the upcoming 10 to 20 years,” he said. “It will also be a period where a more solid foundation for a more sustainable economic development will be laid.”
In light of which he said the new Cotai resorts would be “the last round of large-scale gaming development,” suggesting it would be enough to make the territory competitive against other gaming jurisdictions for decades.
Chief Executive Chui Sai On, who is expected to run for a second term next year, said diversification away from gaming will require “more cherished land resources,” and two of the territory’s representatives to the Chinese government, one of them the Chui’s older brother, Chui Sai Cheong, have submitted a petition to Beijing to “gradually set up a plan for land resources development of Macau”.
The petition urges the government to make additional land available near Macau, possibly on neighboring Hengqin Island, and to allow more land reclamation.
The possibility of opening the city’s border crossings 24 hours a day has also been on the agenda with mainland officials.
Significantly, Tam said the government would adhere to the 10-year statutory limit on table games that took effect in 2013 and caps the addition of new units to 3 percent a year.
The future of the cap has been the source of endless speculation and controversy—not surprisingly, given that almost 90 percent of Macau’s US$45 billion-plus market, the largest in the world by far, is generated by baccarat. All six concessionaires have submitted sizable requests for new table games as part of the multibillion-dollar resorts they’re building on Cotai while community groups representing dealers are concerned that if those requests are granted local residents will be marginalized by thousands of imported workers. Research shows that the city’s labor supply is already at capacity and will be inadequate to staff the new Cotai resorts. Workers groups fear this will necessitate the importation of migrants to fill dealer positions in violation of current policy restricting those jobs to locals.
Tam said, “I think I have said this several hundred times in recent years, that the annual growth will be within 3 percent in the coming decade,” Tam emphasized. “There are many gambling concessionaires that have applied for more tables. It is nothing new. But after the government has confirmed the (table cap) policy, it has always been assessing the applications according to the policy. This means that we have never processed these applications.”
He added, “We do not rule out that the projects can get all the tables they have requested—namely 500-700 tables each—10 years later.” But until then, he said, investment by the concessions in non-gambling attractions would be a factor in the government’s allocation of new tables.
Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau figures show Macau had 5,750 gaming tables at the end of last year, 4.8 percent more than a year earlier.
Tam, meanwhile, cast the labor shortage as a threat to economic diversification.
“Inflation and the increase in operation costs have brought more difficulties to the small and medium-sized enterprises. All these have contributed to the fact that the road to economic development is full of challenges.”
The first weekend of March saw a dealers group called Forefront of Macau Gaming rally its members for an outdoor demonstration.
“We want the government to tell us what its plan is for the Cotai casinos,” said Forefront President Ieong Man Teng. “What we are worried about is that (Tam) had implied that there is a chance they will scrap the cap on table growth. We predicted that gambling operations will pressure the government to allow non-resident croupiers following the growth of tables.”
Ieong told the demonstrators that if the government does not issue a clear response his members will escalate their action and will not rule out a strike.
Two members of the Legislative Assembly, Pereira Coutinho and Ng Kuok Cheong, participated in the protest. Coutinho told the demonstrators that only legislation can protect their rights and he plans to initiate two bills on trade unions and collective bargaining.
