Secretary for Economy and Finance, Mr Leong Vai Tac, meets with representatives of a local association of gaming promoters.
The Secretary for Economy and Finance, Mr Leong Vai Tac, said the Government would optimise gaming regulations and strengthen supervision for the gaming promoter sector, in an effort to improve the competiveness of Macao’s gaming industry. Mr Leong made his comments during a meeting with representatives of a local association of gaming promoters (known in Portuguese as Associação de Mediadores de Jogos e Entretenimento de Macau) on Thursday (7 January). He added that the Government saw a need to develop regulations that would further ensure the protection of the rights of consumers while also safeguarding the development of the gaming promoter sector. A healthy development of that sector would help advance a more robust gaming industry for Macao, Mr Leong added. Mr Leong stressed the Government was working to promote the development of non-gaming elements in the city’s integrated resorts, in an effort to establish a gaming industry with distinctive local characteristics and to help diversify the city’s economy. The Director of the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, Mr Paulo Martins Chan, was also at the meeting. He told the association’s representatives that enhancing gaming regulations and improving the means by which his staff could enforce gaming laws and regulations was the Bureau’s key task in the short term. Mr Chan said the Bureau acknowledged the efforts already made by gaming promoters to promote the sustainable development of Macao’s gaming industry. He added the Government would continue to keep in close touch with the sector in order to assist the healthy development of the industry. A member of the Legislative Assembly, Mr Zheng Anting, who accompanied gaming promoters to the meeting, said some previously overlooked issues might emerge during the ongoing adjustment period of the gaming industry. He agreed with the idea of strengthening communications between the Government and the sector, as a way to alert the Government – in a timely manner – to any challenges and issues in the industry’s development. Representatives of gaming promoters that were present at the meeting expressed some opinions on how to bolster communication with the Government; how to safeguard the development of the sector; and how to strength its supervision via the development of regulation.