Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming October 2014 22 W henMacau Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On declared in August that the city’s casino operators should provide housing and transportation for their migrant workers, the operators were taken by surprise. “It is the first time I heard about this,” commented Ambrose So, chief executive of SJM Holdings. “And we’ll continue to negotiate with the government to see what the exact policy is.” Mr Chui’s announcement was made as part of his policy platform ahead of his unopposed election to a second term by a 400-member pro-Beijing election committee. The policy is regarded as a means to alleviate pressure on Macau’s housing and transport infrastructure in the face of mounting dissatisfaction among residents, who feel surging numbers of tourists and imported workers have made home prices unaffordable and the city’s roads overly congested. The Macau government is eyeing a number of measures to help ease the city’s sky-high property prices and strained transport infrastructure. Though the details are still unclear, they will likely pass part of the burden to casino operators Feature Pressure Relief