Inside Asian Gaming

MARCH 2018 INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 33 hope each casino or gaming area will have a kiosk. Our ultimate goal is to have around 40 kiosks. That way, when tourists visit the casino floor, they can see the kiosk. We check the hit rates of these kiosks and up to this moment there have been around 30,000 hits at the kiosks with 70% of those from tourists. AWS: Over what period of time have those 30,000 hits occurred? DF: People coming to Macau several times are a moving target. We just calculate the kiosks, not the so-called TV awareness. Several years ago, the DICJ actually encouraged the casino operators to advertise their responsible gaming apps on their TV channel inside the hotels, so whenever you press the button to switch on the TV, you see RG app advertising. You can’t check how many people actually read this, but I can say it’s a very high awareness because most guests switch on the TV and it always pops up on the screen. Another thing is that we encourage the casino operators to advertise their app not just on their hotel TVs but also their shuttle buses. They show some materials on the back of the seats and then the people can see it. Also there is pop-up advertising on electronic displays on casino floors. On each slot machine there must be one label providing the 24-hour helpline. This has been implemented for four years already. AWS: Is there any particular demographic that is more susceptible to problem gambling? DF: Yes. Based on the people who seek help, one-third are gaming industry employees. This is very important because it means if we pass a law to ban gaming employees from entering Macau casinos then one-third of the problem may be solved. AWS: Due to the fact they are always here, does that mean Macau locals face the biggest danger? DF: Yes, 95% are Macau locals. Only 5% are from Hong Kong or mainland China. The latter do seek help, but unfortunately we can’t provide a long-term treatment program for them because of their visa. They can’t live here. When we first started, 80% of the people to seek help were male but now it is closer to 70%. It has decreased gradually. Women are catching up. More and more women seek help today. IN FOCUS Responsible gambling information at MGM Macau “Based on our survey, 30% to 40% of problem gamblers have actually thought about committing suicide.”