<strong>China: Two Casinos Stubbing Out Smoking Lounges</strong>

Source from:  Macau Business Daily 05/28/2014

Two casinos have expressed the wish to completely ban smoking on their mass gaming floors thus avoiding the necessity to install airport-style smoking lounges, Chinese-language newspaper Macao Daily News reports.

Yesterday, the newspaper quoted an unidentified source in the Health Bureau as saying that two casinos have told the government that they will not set up smoking lounges on the mass floors and that mass gamblers will have to smoke outside their premises. The report did not give any reasons why the two casinos will do so. The source was also quoted as saying that other casinos "have gradually" submitted their proposals for the smoking lounges, pending review by the Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau. Business Daily asked the Health Bureau to comment but received no reply before press time yesterday.

The current regulation, implemented since the start of last year, permits gaming venues here to set up smoking areas occupying not more than half their floor space including gaming equipment like gaming tables. But the Health Bureau announced this month that smoking will be banned on mass gaming floors of all casinos here starting October 6; operators are allowed to install smoking lounges without gaming equipment on the floor. The current rules still apply to VIP rooms.

Gaming analysts have said that they expect the full smoking ban on mass floors will have limited impact on the territory's gaming revenue, which expanded by 17.5 percent to 133.52 billion patacas (US$16.69 billion) in the first four months. Enditem