GGRAsia – Many Macau, Singapore residents wish to work at casinos: survey

Many Macau, Singapore residents wish to work at casinos: survey

Jan 08, 2015 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Singapore, Top of the deck

Close to 60 percent of the respondents to a survey conducted in Macau and Singapore said they wish to work in the casino resort industry. The positive view of the sector comes at a time when venues in Asia Pacific are expanding and recruiting new employees.

Singapore opened two large casino resorts in 2010 as a way to boost its economy. Macau has long been focused on casino gaming.

Now a survey conducted by Shou-Tsung Wu and Yeong-Shyang Chen, academics at Shih Chien University in Taiwan, indicates that 58.4 percent of the respondents from Macau and 61.9 percent of the respondents from Singapore said they would like to work in the casino resort industry.

The sample for the study comprised 416 respondents from Macau and 409 from Singapore. The study was earlier reported by Macau newspaper Business Daily.

“When facing a choice of occupation or future career, young people prefer to work [apply] for casino-related job vacancies,” said the study. This caused “a shortage of human resources for most non-casino-related companies,” it added.

Those questioned were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with statements on employment-related topics including: “The job options for young people are narrowed.”

“…it is easy to realise why survey respondents from Macau and Singapore did not experience anxiety,” stated the report.

According to the study, more than 20 percent of the respondents in Macau and 10 percent of those surveyed in Singapore already worked in a gaming-related business.

The research examined the viewpoints of the Macau and Singapore population towards the gaming industry and its impact on both regions.

It showed that 34.1 percent of the subjects from Macau and 35.7 percent of the respondents in Singapore said they “never” went to casinos for gambling.

Singapore however had a higher rate of frequent gamblers. According to the survey, 14.7 percent of the respondents in the Lion City indicated that they “frequently” went to casinos for gambling, against 12.3 percent in Macau. Residents in the Chinese territory are seen as more “occasional” gamblers, added the study.

Singapore residents are more sympathetic to gambling than Macau residents suggested the study. About 46 percent of the respondents in Singapore chose “welcome” or “not a big deal” when asked about how they perceived the gaming industry. The rate in Macau stood at 34.4 percent, with only 5.5 percent ticking the “welcome” box.

The researchers said the views might be explained by the fact that Singapore has mandated its two concessionaires to provide more diverse and more specific non-gaming attractions than Macau has so far mandated of its concessionaires.

“Non-gaming attractions allow Singapore to differentiate itself from Asia’s casino capital of Macau by strategically developing Singapore as a family tourism destination rather than Macau’s heavy dependence on the exclusive revenues of gambling or gambling-hotel complexes,” they said.

On the other hand, Macau residents have been in contact with casino gambling for a longer time, and “thus able to express what they feel more clearly,” the researchers concluded.