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Gaming


45


Grand gesture I


n Beijing-style politics, a gesture of- ten speaks louder than words. That is why analysts say the unexpected vis-


its by a high-ranking mainland of cial to several hotel-casinos in Macau, be- lieved to be the  rst of their kind, were anything but spontaneous. Last month, while in Macau on


a three-day working trip, the direc- tor of the Hong Kong and Macau Af- fairs Of ce of the State Council, Wang Guangya, visited the Grand Lisboa and Galaxy Macau hotel-casinos. He also had dinner at MGM Macau. He did not visit any of the casinos’ gaming  oors. The visits were unusual, as nor-


mally Beijing of cials opt to stay away from casinos during their of cial trips to Macau – at least, publicly. Mr Wang


is not, it seems, a punter. “I don’t know how to gamble, nor do I have money,” he told reporters. However, he added: “We all know


that the central government backs Macau to become an international en- tertainment and leisure centre. Then it would not only consist of gambling but also events, culture and other industries. I hope that Macau will have an all-round development.” His visits to casinos took place a few


days after Morgan Stanley released a re- search note saying investors were “in- creasingly concerned about tightening measures” in the mainland that might hurt the VIP gaming business. Among these measures are curbs on growth in lending, higher reserve requirements for


The public visit to Macau’s hotel-casinos by director of the Macau Affairs Of ce of the State Council made history and sent a message BY EMANUEL GRAÇA


banks and higher interest rates. Besides this, the fast growth of


Macau’s gross gaming revenue in the  rst half of this year – more than 40 percent – has given rise to conjecture about wheth- er the central government will introduce new restrictions on visas for mainland visitors, similar to those imposed in 2008, when the industry was also expanding rapidly. However, at that time there were reports of money laundering (see report in this section), Beijing was concerned about the rise of problem gambling and also about whether the pro ts were being sucked up by US gaming operators.


Best behaviour “In this cycle, we have not heard of any widespread measure. However,


JULY 2011 there


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