Inside Asian Gaming

July 2014 inside asian gaming 15 and members of the Legislative Assembly, who complain that air quality in many instances has actually deteriorated. In March, Macau’s Health Bureau, taking up a proposal jointly filed by the six gaming operators, announced that smoking will be completely prohibited on mass floors after 6th October except for airport-style smoking lounges without any gaming equipment inside. Smoking will be allowed in VIP areas subject to the current 50% rule. The terms of the ban were further clarified in a June dispatch from the office of the Macau chief executive which states that the combined In Focus size of smoking lounges on mass floors and smoking areas in VIP rooms should not exceed half of total floor space. Cheang Seng Ip, deputy director of the Health Bureau, said this month the territory’s six gaming operators “have basically handed in” draft plans for smoking lounges in their casinos and slot parlors for the government’s preliminary review in a bid to shorten the red tape involved in processing their official applications. Grant Bowie, chief executive of MGM China Holdings, and SJM Holdings Chief Executive Ambrose So Shu Fai have said they are working closely with the government on the matter, without going into details. LIMITED CONDITIONS But some gaming venues have already put the lounges into operation. SJM, the successor to Stanley Ho’s monopoly and Macau’s largest operator by number of properties, has set up several smoking rooms in Casino Lisboa, its former flagship in the city’s downtown. The J ne Macau’s casinos have been partially smoke-free since January 2013, when a new law went into effect allowing for smoking on no more than 50% of their gaming floors. But its enforcement has met with frustration and discontent from gaming workers, labor unions and members of the Legislative Assembly, who complain that air quality in many instances has actually deteriorated. LifeAir’s Apollo Kwok says each smoking lounge, in an ideal situation, has to be located close to the gaming tables and range from seven to 10 square meters to accommodate up to 10 smokers at a time. “Then smokers can enjoy gambling and have freedom to smoke when they like without spending their valuable time on unnecessary walking.”