Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) President Wilson Hon Wai said yesterday that the owners of the six fishing boats gutted by a huge blaze in the Inner Harbour on Monday are now in a “stable emotional state”.
Hon made the remarks yesterday on the sidelines of the opening ceremony for a “responsible gaming information station” set up at Grand Lisboa Palace.
Hon said that on the day of the blaze, his bureau dispatched a number of officials to the Inner Harbour to contact the boat owners. He pointed out that most of the owners have a land-based home so they are not looking for a place to stay at the moment. According to Hon, some of the owners’ families said that they did not need the bureau’s immediate financial support. However, Hon said he could not disclose more details about the owners’ family situation.
59 ‘responsible gaming information stations’
Meanwhile, Davis Fong Ka Chio, who heads the Institute for the Study of Commercial Gaming, told reporters on the sidelines of the opening ceremony yesterday that Macau has 59 “responsible gaming information stations”, 35 of which are located in casinos. Fong said that 110,000 people have used the stations since 2012. He pointed out that according to a recent survey, the percentage of local residents who gambled in the past 12 months has decreased from 67 percent (at its peak) to around 40 percent. He also noted that the percentage of local gaming addicts dropped to 0.8 percent from 6 percent at its peak. Fong did not say when the peak occurred.
Fong said that, on the contrary, his institute has received more calls to its help line than ever, adding some of the callers have been visitors from different regions and cities around the world.
Fong noted that if Macau could maintain a daily average of visitor arrivals of between 20,000 and 30,000, then the government’s gaming revenue would be about the same as last year. Fong said that according to his recent research, as nearby regions and cities have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, he predicts that it will take about two and a half to three months to recover. Fong said he expects that neighbouring regions’ COVID-19 pandemic situations can only return to normal levels in the middle of next month, because of which Macau has to expand its customer source and alter its business tactics.
Fong disagreed that the closing of satellite casinos – owned by one of Macau’s three gaming concessionaires or three sub-concessionaires but run by a third party on its behalf –would affect the government’s gaming revenue.
Wilson Hon Wai talks to reporters yesterday on the sidelines of the opening ceremony for the “responsible gaming information station” located at Grand Lisboa Palace. Photo courtesy of TDM
