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Macau Welcomes Back Standing Betting for Table Games
By Jeff Osienya Mar 24, 2021 IndustryAfter one year of strict Covid-19 measures, Macau’s regulator has officially announced the return of standing betting for gamblers playing table games at casinos. The SAR region is gradually getting back to its feet as the ease of restrictions continues.Casino visitors in Macau, the world’s gambling capital, have finally been allowed to play casino games while standing in casino lobbies but with extra social distancing precautions. Patrons will however be required to maintain a social distance of at least 1m apart from each other when they are placing bets at table games on the casino floors to ensure the health and safety of everyone in the venue.
The Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) had banned standing betting last year in February when the Coronavirus had just been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. This standing betting restriction has been eased as part of the special administrative region’s plan to open up from Coronavirus lockdowns and encourage tourism in a bid to recover from the pandemic-induced economic shortfall.
Are Standing Betting and Social Distancing Immiscible?
Conversely, as exciting as it may be for gamblers who will be paying the Monte Carlo of the East a visit, it isn’t an easy feat for gaming houses. Croupiers running the show on the table games have already reported that they are having a difficult time keeping jazzed-up gamblers from breaching the 1-meter social distancing rule.
Jeremy Lei Man Chao, the assistant director of the New Macau Gaming Staff Rights Association even came forward to explain how difficult it is to keep the standing gamblers separated through the course of gameplay. In a statement to GGRAsia, Mr. Man Chao said,
Quote“We heard many cases where dealers were arguing with the mainland China patrons over that one-meter distance rule for doing standing bets. It is unrealistic to ask the standing patrons to keep a one-meter distance apart from each other and have them to stick to it – it is really not as easy to do it, as is [it would be] in the case of seated patrons.”
In the briefing, Mr. Man Chao also disclosed that the complaints of the members of the workers' association had been relayed to the region's gaming ombudsman, the DICJ. According to him, if the risks of the COVID-19 infection are significantly lower than what they were months ago per recent government reports, then the regulator should further relax the standing bets restriction, by reducing the 1-meter social distancing rule!
Macau Continues to Show Positive Signs of Recovery
Even with the difficulties that operators in Macau are facing from gradual reopening the region seems to be doing pretty well for itself from a financial standpoint when you compare now to the same period last year. For instance, the DICJ reported that in February 2021, the Chinese special administrative region collected MOP7.31 billion ($915.4m/€759.4m/(£655.7m) in gaming revenue, recording a 136% jump year over year. In February last year, casinos operated for only 15 days before the region went dark due to forced Coronavirus closures, leading to a massive revenue crash.
While the year-on-year surge is encouraging, the performance is 8.9% less than the MOP8.02 billion that the gambling Mecca saw in January 2021, despite having the Chinese New Year festive season by its side. Furthermore, last month’s performance is but a shadow of what Macau was in its last year of full operations before the pandemic hit, compared to February 2019, last month’s gross gaming revenue has taken a 71% dive.
If we look at the situation on a more positive note, however, last month’s revenue marks the first gaming revenue climb in 17 months – an easy win though as the government of Macau had halted casino operations for over two weeks, leading to a revenue dip in October 2019.
Looking at the bigger picture, international travel restrictions due to the pandemic are still a problem for Macau, meaning that it will take some time before the gambling hub goes back to its glory days. The Macau government is however taking deliberate measures to encourage visitors from mainland China, many of whom are known to be high rollers who bring in a ton of money for the region’s casinos.
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