Gaming law expert researcher, Jorge Godinho, stated to Macau News Agency that the departure of Paulo Martins Chan as the Gaming Inspection and Co-ordination Bureau (DICJ) Director “coincides with the most critical period in the gaming industry in many years”.
Gross gaming results have dropped 68.7 per cent to some MOP31.2 billion (US$3.9 billion) in the first four months of this year, as the Covid-19 pandemic wreaked havoc in the local gaming results
“The next director of DICJ will have an immediate challenge to find ways to promote a return to normality, which naturally it will not depend only on him,” the University of Macau researcher indicated to MNA.
As reported by MNA, Chan will step down from his position at the DICJ following five years on the job, with Adriano Marques Ho, an advisor to Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak, to be appointed to the position in June.
“Dr. Paulo Martins Chan did an excellent job, which was even awarded a prize by an international association, of which I am a member, the IMGL (2019 Regulator of the Year for Asia/Australasia by the International Masters of Gaming Law),” Godinho noted.
The ​IMGL is a non-profit association comprising of over 340 international members involved in gaming jurisdiction and law, with the award granted in September of last year.
Godinho praised the work done by Chan between 2015 and 2020, considering that Macau “now has more and better regulation in the sector”.
“In its mandate, important regulations were issued, namely on money laundering and technical work on gambling machines continued,” he added.
However, the gaming law expert pointed out to the “pending challenges” existing, such as the organization and decision of the public tender for the “next generation” of gaming concessions in 2022.
Gaming analysts have also previously indicated to MNA that the new appointment was a step into stricter and better regulatory enforcement of the local gaming sector.
