Macao is likely going to ban smoking in casinos

A new law is currently being prepared in Macau.
When it becomes effective, it will impose a total ban on smoking in all casinos in the former Portuguese colony, including the VIP gaming rooms.
The local government believes that this legislation should become effective next year.
This means that the new complexes that are going to open in the city are all going to be non smoking establishments.

A very critical period

Since last October, it is forbidden to smoke in the Macau gaming rooms that are open to foreign players.
This measure has been introduced at an especially critical time for the former Portuguese colony, meaning precisely when the revenues of casinos began to decline.
Consequently, the revenue decline in the industry continues to be felt, and many analysts believe that the month of February is expected to be the worst in the history of the city.

Smoking completely eradicated

Despite this prohibition, operators could still build smoking areas with ventilation systems on their premises.
It is also still possible to smoke in the VIP gaming rooms.
As part of the new law, smoking will be completely eradicated from the casinos of Macau.

Even harming the finances of the gambling complexes

The government of the former Portuguese colony seems determined to best protect the health of residents and visitors, even at the risk of harming the financial situation of institutions in the city offering money games.
In fact, when introduced in other countries, the smoking ban had resulted in lower revenues from casinos of up to 10%.
For the Macau complexes, the situation could be even worse because 1% decline in revenues could mean a reduction of 4% of net profits.

A forecast of a further reduction of 10 to 15% of the income

According to Karen Tang, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, banning smoking in rooms dedicated to foreign players will resulted in a decrease of 10 to 15% of the revenue from October 2014.
If the prohibition extends to VIP rooms, the impact should be similar.
The Galaxy and Wynn Macau should be the most affected establishments, because of their focus on VIP areas.