A survey by the Macau Gaming Industry Employees Home Integrated Service Centre has found that only 11.9% of former junket employees have been able to find a new job.
The “Survey on Employment Status and Support Demands of Former VIP Room Employees”, which garnered responses from 309 Macau residents who have left junket promoters within the past year, mostly comprised former employees of Suncity Group, Tak Chun Group and Guangdong Group. Around 50% of respondents reported having a monthly income of over CNY20,000 (US$3,050) before leaving.
Alongside the 88.1% who have been unable able to find a job since, 87.5% of the unemployed also reported that their finances were insufficient while 45.2% said they were considering selling their current assets.
The survey also found that 64.8% of those to have found new jobs are now earning CNY12,000 (US$1,830) or less per month.
Macau’s junket industry has been largely decimated following the arrests of Suncity CEO Alvin Chau in November and Tak Chun Group CEO Levo Chan in January, with both operators since closing their Macau VIP rooms.
Combined with stricter junket regulations under Macau’s amended gaming law, currently being debated by the Legislative Assembly, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau announced earlier this year that it had issued licenses to 46 junkets for 2022, down from 85 a year earlier and well below the peak of 235 in 2013.
However, Macau Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng said last week there were currently just 37 junket promoters still in operation from that list of 46 issued in late January.
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