Macau top job candidate vows to regulate gaming, diversify economy in policy outline
‘We will strictly implement a new gaming law to regulate the industry and ensure its healthy, orderly development,’ Sam Hou-fai says
Macau’s sole chief executive candidate has pledged to regulate the gaming sector and ensure orderly developments through “strict enforcement” of the law while supporting the growth of other industries and attracting more visitors from outside mainland China.
Revealing his policy outline on Saturday, Sam Hou-fai, the former head of the city’s Court of Final Appeal, also suggested using the casino hub to promote exports of home appliances and other products manufactured in the Greater Bay Area to Portuguese-speaking countries.
In a seminar attended by hundreds of electors and reporters, Sam said: “We will strictly implement a new gaming law to regulate the industry and ensure its healthy, orderly development in accordance with the law, to prevent and crack down on illegal activities, and focus efforts on developing non-gaming elements.”
He also promised efforts to broaden Macau’s source of visitors, noting that the gaming hub could appeal to “one billion” middle-class spenders in Southeast Asia and even South America, who not only tend to have extended stays in the city but also will help spread the word of Chinese culture and Macau’s characters.
International tourists from outside the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan accounted for about seven per cent of the 16.7 million visitors that arrived in Macau in the first six months of this year.
The candidate said Macau’s casino operators, which have promised to invest over HK$100 billion (US$13 billion) in non-gaming elements upon receiving a decade-long extension for their concessions starting from 2023, could foot the bill.
“We recommend the six gaming operators be encouraged to set up some tourism promotion offices in these important markets across Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and even South America, such as Brazil,” he said.
