27 gaming halls missed the deadline
Ambrose So, CEO of Macau casino operator SJM Holdings Ltd., has asked the government to extend the deadline for improved smoking lounges in the city’s casinos. The deadline expired September 28, with the new rules going into effect on January 1, 2019.
According to CDC Gaming Reports, the government’s Health Bureau received a total of 404 requests for upgraded smoking lounges by the deadline, but that represents just 27 of 47 gaming halls.
In July 2017 Macau lawmakers approved a bill to ban tobacco use in VIP rooms, the last bastion of unlimited smoking in the casino business, GGRAsia reported. The new rules took effect last January, but casinos were given a full year to set up dedicated smoking lounges for high rollers.
Inside Asian Gaming reports that 1,140 people have been cited for illegal smoking in casinos in the first eight months of the year, representing 30.1 percent of all prosecutions. More than 87 percent of smokers prosecuted inside casinos were tourists.
