DSAL: 61 employees laid off from VIP clubs sought government help

By
Stephanie Lai

The city’s Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL) said it has so far received a total of 61 former employees of VIP gaming clubs requesting employment aid since December, of whom 17 have already arranged job matching via the government.
The figure was given by the Bureau’s deputy director Lau Wai Meng to reporters on Saturday on the sidelines of an event.
The 61 individuals in question approached the Labour Affairs Bureau for help on layoff compensation, according to Mr. Lau.
“The number of cases for this issue is not a lot,” he told media. “Since December, we’ve received complaints [regarding termination of employment by VIP gaming operators] from 61 employees involving layoff compensation.”
“The re-employment for these laid-off staff is not difficult, with most of them later hired in a related industry [of gaming],” the Bureau deputy director briefly added.
VIP slump
In response to Business Daily’s enquiries, the Labour Affairs Bureau said these 61 employees had been hired by nine VIP clubs in the city but the Bureau did not have data on the name of the firms nor the number of VIP gaming operators’ closures or restructuring involved.
The Association of Gaming and Entertainment Promoters of Macau gave us a rough estimate in early August that the city has seen about 30 per cent less or about 60 fewer VIP gaming promoters working here compared to 2013. The continuously weak VIP play, impacted by Beijing’s ongoing anti-graft policy, has caused VIP customers to sidestep Macau to avoid scrutiny.
The onset of closures or restructuring of local VIP gaming promoters, which started last year, has resulted in about 148 junkets still operating gaming in VIP rooms, scaled down from the peak of about 213 junket firms in 2013, Association president Kwok Chi Chung said at the time.
Of Macau’s 398,000-plus employed population, some 83,800 individuals, or 21 percent, were working in the gaming sector or involved in junket activities as at the end of the second quarter, Statistics and Census Service said. The number of gaming workers has dropped by 800 quarter-on-quarter, according to the census data.