Inside Asian Gaming

IAG AUG 2019年8月 亞博匯 76 to get addicted, but for casino, for soccer betting, it’s much easier to develop a gambling problem based on statistics over the last 16 years. That means in Macau, problem gamblers basically do two things, casino gambling or soccer betting. Together they make up almost 90%. OG: What unique challenges does Macau face in combatting problem gambling? DF: There isonebigchallenge inMacau, which is school. Schools, frankly speaking, are quite conservative regarding responsible gambling initiatives. They don't want to directly promote responsible gambling because from the schools’ perspective there is no gambling at all. That’s why it’s very difficult for us to promote responsible gambling before students leave the school, which leaves a gap. Then, after they turn 21, they have a lot of curiosity, there are a lot of casinos, they go inside and can lose control. We are trying to overcome these obstacles. We have developed some teaching materials so that each year schools can have one class to teach students about the value of money, the value of assets and the value of gambling at the end. Principals accept this idea because instead of promoting responsible gambling directly, we focus on understanding values. OG: We are seeing the local gaming market slowly evolve from a VIP-centric environment to a mass market one. Is this process being reflected in the problem gambling figures? Is there any distinction between VIPs and mass players in terms of problem gambling? DF: We actually can’t find any statistical significance between these so-called VIP and non-VIP gamblers in the area of prevalence. However, for VIPs, sometimes it’s very difficult to compile any surveys from the public health perspective because VIPs are very low profile, very difficult to interview face to face. So I’m not so sure we can produce a sound result to compare the The DICJ has sponsored some local NGOs to conductRGseminarsinChina.Theyhavealready sponsored five seminars on the mainland with one to go, so it will be six in the last three years. 博彩監察協調局亦資助了一些本地的非政府機構，在中國 內地進行負責任博彩研討會。目前已經有五場受贊助的研 討會在內地舉辦，另有一場即將舉行。三年內共六場。 FEATURES