Macau casino ban for off-duty gaming staff begins

Dec 27, 2019 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck  

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A ban on Macau’s gaming workers entering casino floors outside work hours takes effect from today (Friday, December 27), confirmed the city’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, also known as DICJ, in a Thursday statement. The ban is expected to cover a total of 54,000 people in Macau employed either by one of the city’s casino operators or by one of the locally-licensed junket firms.

The ban includes staff that are not directly involved with gaming operations, such as people working in public relations, and those employed as either cashiers, cage staff, food and beverage outlet workers or cleaners, as well as those connected to surveillance operations. The exact job positions concerned – as defined respectively by each of the six Macau casino operators – are listed on the DICJ website.

The legislation regarding the ban on off-duty gaming workers being on gaming floors does not contain provisions for establishment of a database listing the details of the individuals covered by it.

Macau’s gaming regulator confirmed to GGRAsia a fortnight ago that there was “no intention” to issue guidelines requesting the city’s casino operators to use facial recognition technology to assist in the enforcement of the ban.

In its latest commentary to us, DICJ noted that it had conducted specific training for its gaming floor inspectors in relation to the new rules. Those officials would be in charge of checking whether the new casino entry ban rules were “properly enforced” in the city’s casinos.

The regulator said additionally that it had also held several consultation sessions with the city’s casino operators, to explain the terms of the off-duty ban, and to help operators train their own employees on compliance with the new rules.

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