Guangdong
New visa restrictions on Macau
Chinese act to limit its residents gambling there, with possible
longterm implication for Singapore's casinos.
if the cash outflows are not reined the central govt will surely
intervene:
Macau daily blog
May 27, 2007
New Visa restrictions to Macau for Guangdong residents
The big news this week has been what the affect of the new visa
restrictions may have on Macau s future.
We believe the affect will be huge as every day about 250,000
people cross the Zhuhai-Macau borders.
The new restrictions under Chinas current policy are not
surprising as the cash outflows must be quite significant.
Obviously these measures are also implemented to curb gambling by
officials and illegal labour in Macau.
Just let have a look at a some of the new restrictions here:
-
1 There will be a restriction on the number of times that visitors
are allowed to visit Macau.
2 The application period is now 10 days instead of 6 the days
previously.
3 Permit for Business travel have been suspended
indefinitely.
4 Urgent applications have been cancelled with immediate
effect.
5 Guangdong Residents are now only allowed to visit Macau on a
single entry permit instead the previous double entry permit.
6 There will be breaks inserted in between the visits of two
months.
7 They may restrict permits altogether.
There still no official announcements on the confirmed measures
that currently are undertaken.
The affect that this will have on Macau will be significant, and
the impact should be seen in a few months time around the time when
the Venetian Macao is expected to open its doors.
The stock markets already reacted last Friday as shares of Melco
PBL, Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts dropped heavenly on these new
measures and concerns!
Add to this the fact that the affect this will have on the VIP
rooms income, SJM has already said that its VIP business has
dropped by 10-15%, the monetary impact could be quite huge!
The onus now on the casino operators and gaming authorities, to
convince the Guangdong government, that they can control the
gambling addictions and wastage. They need to introduce responsible
gaming and gambling addiction regulations and organizations to
support it.
May 30, 2007
