New rules for slots ready this month

The first local technical standards for electronic gaming machines will come into effect today but the long-awaited bylaw on slot machines is yet to be finalised, gaming regulator Manuel Joaquim das Neves confirmed.

The draft bill should be sent to the secretary for Administration and Justice, Florinda Chan, “probably next week,” the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) director told Macau Daily Times.

“The industry has been waiting for this piece of legislation for quite a number of years now,” Neves acknowledged. In fact the bill was sent to Chan's cabinet before but “it came back to us because we had to tweak some details,” he revealed.

The bylaw will “fully regulate and clarify” the operation of electronic gaming machines, including the acceptable return-to-player range, Neves explained. It will also ban slot machine parlours from residential districts.

The government first proposed banning slot machine parlours from residential districts in 2007. Secretary for Economy and Finance, Francis Tam Pak Yuen, announced the measure during the 2008 Policy Address.

There is currently just one parlour that is likely to be affected by this new legislation, the SJM Yat Yuen Canidrome Slot Lounge in Fai Chi Kei. But the chief executive officer of SJM Holdings, Ambrose So Shu Fai, has said the company is open to closing the Canidrome parlour.

In a reply to a lawmaker's enquiry last month, Neves said that the bylaw could be published by the end of March.

Local standard

But yesterday the regulator declined to make a forecast for when the law could come into effect. “After we send it to the secretary's cabinet it will then have to be approved by the Chief Executive and discussed at the Executive Council,” he stressed.

The technical standards for slot machines introduced today will replace the standards currently ‘borrowed’ from other jurisdictions.

“Electronic gaming machines had to receive certification since 2004 but, because we had no standard, we would recognise certification from other countries, such as the US and Australia," Neves explained.

However there will be few changes, he emphasised. “Technical standards like these are very similar in all gaming jurisdictions. There are just some new demands to adapt machines to the local characteristics, namely the use of Chinese languages,” the regulator explained.

The new local standards were prepared in cooperation with the Gaming and Entertainment Information Technology Research and Development Centre, a joint-venture between the Macau Polytechnic Institute and gaming operator Melco Crown Entertainment.

But the certification will be given by a small number of “widely-known” international companies. “Some jurisdictions have their own labs to test these machines but Macau is too small so we don’t really need to have such an infrastructure,” Neves said.

The rules have already been sent to all gaming operators and after October new slot machines coming into local casinos will have to fulfill the Macau specifications. The regulator added that existing machines have already been approved and will remain in operation.

V.Q.