Smoking in Macau casinos has been a hot issue in recent years, with the prospect of a total smoking ban in casinos spooking Macau’s six gaming concessionaires, who in response have argued that smoking lounges on gaming floors are the right compromise on the issue.
In an attempt to sway the Macau government on the issue, the six gaming operators commissioned the University of Macau and PolyU Technology and Consultancy Company Limited (a strategic professional service arm of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University) to perform independent research on the issue.
Today Dr Ambrose So, Chairman of the Board of Directors, SJM, made the opening speech on behalf of the six Macau casino operators, at a press conference to present the research findings to the media.
According to So, the smoking saga has “gotten in our ears”, as the operators keep an effort to listen to all voices in society regarding smoking control. Pushing the operators’ agenda of keeping the smoking lounges in operation, he also requested the government grant a “certain grace period” so that the lounges could be “further improved with the introduction of more advanced specifications and stringent procedures.” The proposed changes had been sent to the Government last year and So is hoping for a positive response.
The research conducted by the University of Macau consisted of a survey on concessionaire employee views regarding smoking lounges. Presented to the media by Dr Desmond Lam, Associate Professor in Hospitality and Gaming Management, University of Macau, the survey posed a series of four questions to employees working in the industry for the past six months.
During the press conference, the figures presented were that 60 percent of a sample of 14,301 employees “support solutions that allow smoking lounges.” That figure drops to 55 percent amongst employees working in gaming operations.
To the question, “In regards to the smoking ban bill, which of the following options do you support the most: a) Full smoking ban; b) allow smoking in smoking lounges only; c) allow smoking in VIP and Smoking lounges”, only 40% chose a full smoking ban, with a combined figure of 60% choosing one of the alternative options.
The second study, commissioned to PolyU Technology and Consultancy and presented by Prof Lee Shun Cheng, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, focused on the air quality of all 38 casinos in Macau at different times of the day. The exhaustive study showcased that local casinos matched, or surpassed, Macau standards for indoor air quality control.
We here at WGM have long supported smoking lounges. We believe effective and well-maintained smoking lounges strike the right balance between the interests of smokers, non-smokers, employees and the concessionaires. In our view a full smoking ban is both draconian and ineffective, as in practice it will lead to surreptitious smoking in bathrooms and fire escapes and other such locations.
It will be interesting to see the government’s response to the pressure applied by Macau six concessionaries on the issue.
