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by Tony Lai


That Lehman Brothers Moment


Interview - Kwok Ki Chung


More than one-third of the VIP rooms in Macau have closed over the past year amid slowing revenue growth and an anti-graft campaign in Mainland China that shows no sign of losing momentum, but a junket group believes the nuclear winter will eventually ebb


S 22 SEPTEMBER 2015


ince its establishment at the end of 2012 in a high-profile gala featuring officials from the Chinese liaison office in the city and the then-chief of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Macau, the


Association of Gaming and Entertainment Promoters of Macau has remained notably low key. However, the trade group of promoters, also known


as junket operators, has come under the spotlight in the past few months from hosting forums to meeting officials to releasing strongly worded statements in newspapers. The reason behind this change is not difficult to divine as declared by its president, Kwok Chi Chung – their survival is on the line. “We have stayed low profile for nearly three years


as we are a peculiar industry. It’s not appropriate for us to publicly make comments all the time,” he said. “So why do we voice out this time? It’s because a full smoking ban [in casinos] will have an extremely severe impact upon the business of gaming promoters.” In addition to a proposed smoking ban, the local


junket business has taken a beating from a pervasive crackdown on corruption in Mainland China while the gaming operators are also working on developing the mass market. But Mr. Kwok, speaking in an interview in mid-August, believes they will survive, emerging from the current predicament in a more transparent and businesslike manner. Reaching a record high of MOP238.52 billion


(US$29.87 billion) in 2013, VIP gaming revenue in the territory turned southbound with a 10.9 per cent decrease last year. Performance further slumped in the first half of this year with a 42.2 per cent dive in revenue, compared with a 37 per cent plunge in overall gaming industry earnings. Analysts and industry figures have blamed the headwinds in casinos on the anti-graft campaign launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping in late 2012, which has kept Mainland high-rollers well away from the territory in droves. In a carefully worded response avoiding the mention of graft, Mr. Kwok attributed the slump to “a mix of factors”, explaining: “As economic growth [on


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