A total of 90.3 percent of middle- and upper-management positions at Macau’s six casino operators were held by local ID holders as of June 30, exceeding a long-standing, local-government target of at least 85 percent, said on Tuesday, Wong Chi Hong, director of the city’s Labour Affairs Bureau, in comments to Macau’s Legislative Assembly.
At the end of the first half this year, an aggregate of 8,865 local employees was in such roles.
Chan Un Tong, a deputy director of the bureau, mentioned during Tuesday’s Legislative Assembly session, that as of June-end, Macau’s casino industry had more than 108,000 employees of all grades, of which 77 percent were local ID holders.
The Labour Affairs Bureau officials were addressing questions raised by legislator Ng Kuok Cheong, about government policy on protecting the labour rights of locals in the city’s casino industry, during what he called a “transition” period before Macau was due to complete a revision of the city’s gaming law, and introduce a fresh public tender for Macau gaming rights.
The current six licences are due to expire in June 2022, although the current gaming law permits incremental increases in the current permits, up to a maximum of five years.
The officials told Mr Ng the government would continue to encourage the city’s companies to prioritise employing local staff.
During the session, Mr Ng asked specifically, whether the Macau government had considered extending the current gaming rights for the six licensees, but did not receive a reply on that point.
Adriano Marques Ho, director of Macau’s casino regulator, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, was also in attendance. He repeated to legislators a previous government comment: that the authorities intended “in the second half of this year”, to have a public consultation process regarding the revision of the city’s gaming law.
