Junket biz Suncity Group offers staff exit plan: reports

Jun 07, 2021 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck  

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Privately-held Macau casino junket investor Suncity Group Ltd is offering a voluntary resignation scheme to employees, according to several media reports, citing a memo said to have been sent to Suncity staff.

It included an address to workers by Suncity boss, Alvin Chau Cheok Wa. The scheme offers employees some bonuses and benefits, including compensation, additional allowances and partial payout of social security contributions, according to the reports.

Possibly only a “couple” of Macau’s VIP gaming promoters or ‘junkets’ will be left in the local market in future, as the sector continues to face significant headwinds not only from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on travel and tourism, but also because of the Chinese central authorities’ concern about gambling activities outside the country’s borders, an industry insider recently told GGRAsia.

VIP baccarat, which in 2019 accounted for as much as half of all Macau casino gross gaming revenue, accounted for 38.6 percent of the city’s GGR in the three months to March 31, according to government data released in April.

Several Macau casino operators have recently announced forms of either voluntary exit or career pause for workers amid the ongoing business slowdown during the pandemic.

Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd said in a statement to GGRAsia in April that it was offering pit supervisors in its table games department a payment of MOP380,000 (US$47,500) if they wished to resign “voluntarily”. The company said the “one-off payment” would be settled together with the compensation for each volunteer’s last month of employment.

Melco Resorts and Entertainment Ltd launched on May 4 multiple voluntary programmes designed to help those of its staff with Macau ID to “reach personal and professional objectives.” The programmes included a voluntary exit scheme for its staff, the firm said in a press release.

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