Macau authorities received a total of 119 requests for exclusion from the city’s casinos in the three months to 30 June 2018, an increase of 37 on the 82 requests received in the same period last year according to latest figures from the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.
The substantial rise follows similar activity in 1Q18 when 114 exclusion requests were received, taking the total for the first half of the year to 233 compared with 179 requests 12 months ago.
Notably, the number of Third Party Exclusion requests from concerned parties such as family members jumped from 11 in 1Q18 to 22 during the latest three-month period. Self-exclusion requests numbered 97, pushing the 2018 total to exactly 200 – a 34.2% increase on the 149 who applied for self-exclusion in the first half of 2017.
Under Macau law, an exclusion order can be applied for a maximum of two years before requiring renewal, with fines of up to MOP$10,000 for prohibited persons found violating an order or up to MOP$500,000 for operators.