A total of 423 employees from Macau satellite casinos have attended recent job-matching sessions provided by three of the city’s six gaming concessionaires, said the Labour Affairs Bureau on Monday.
As of June 18, Sands China Ltd, SJM Holdings Ltd, and Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd had offered a total of seven job-matching sessions (pictured) aimed at staff working at the city’s satellite casinos – venues that are due to close at the end of the year.
These sessions – held after the closure of satellite casinos was announced on June 9 – offered positions in sales and customer service, food and beverage, facilities management, and public area maintenance, the bureau said in a press release.
Macau currently has 11 satellite casinos operating under the 10-year gaming concessions that began in January 2023. Nine of the 11 are run via SJM Holdings’ licence, one under Galaxy Entertainment’s permit, and one via Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd’s gaming rights.
Under the city’s revamped gaming regulatory framework – coinciding with the current concessions of the six Macau operators – from next year, third-party investors in satellite casinos will only be permitted to earn a “management fee” via a “management company”.
On June 9, SJM Holdings, Galaxy Entertainment, and Melco Resorts separately announced that they plan to cease supporting satellite casinos after the end of this year, effectively bringing the satellite model in Macau to an end.
Of the existing satellite casinos, only Ponte 16 and L’Arc Macau are expected to continue operations beyond 2025. To that end, SJM Holdings announced plans to acquire the respective properties where those two casinos are located, meaning they would become self-promoted casinos. The move still requires approval from the Macau government.
The city’s government has estimated that 5,600 local residents would be affected by the satellite casino closures.
Of those, 4,800 are directly employed by the three gaming concessionaires that have affixed their licence to satellite businesses, while 800 are employed by the satellite-venue owners. A further 400 imported workers were also employed in satellite operations.
In its Monday announcement, the Labour Affairs Bureau said it had “implemented a series of measures” to oversee the transition arrangements for local employees affected by the closure of satellite gaming venues.
The bureau stated that, as of June 20, 52 briefing sessions had been held with affected workers, reaching 4,812 employees – 4,457 staff deployed by concessionaires and 355 directly employed by satellite casino promoters.
Macau concessionaires have been requested by the city’s government to absorb Macau-resident workers they had previously assigned to satellite casinos into their core operations, once those satellites cease operations. However, some of the affected staff may wish to seek employment elsewhere.
In separate statements on June 9, SJM Holdings, Galaxy Entertainment, and Melco Resorts pledged that they would reassign their employees working at satellite gaming venues to other properties they operate in Macau.
The Labour Affairs Bureau pledged in its Monday release to continue “monitoring the transition process” of satellite casino employees “to safeguard workers’ rights”.
