<strong>China: No Limit on Size and Number of Smoking Rooms in Macau Casinos</strong>

Source from:  Macau Daily Times  06/06/2014

Detailed rules for the set-up of smoking rooms in mass areas of casinos were released in the government gazette on Tuesday. The Health Bureau (SSM) confirmed yesterday that the government has made no limitations regarding the size and amount of smoking rooms casinos may have on their mass floors.

Last month, the authority announced a full smoking ban in casinos' mass areas. The policy stipulates that casinos can set up smoking room(s) on these floors without any gaming-related facilities.

SSM's Deputy Director, Cheang Seng Ip, explained yesterday that the closed smoking rooms, together with the smoking areas in VIP rooms, should not exceed half of the size of the total casino gaming area.  

However, the "rooms" and "areas" will not limited in size or number by the government, which means casinos can manage a portion of smoking space in their mass and VIP floors.

Besides, Cheang also revealed that they are waiting for the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau to define mass floors and VIP rooms. Yet the authority said that they had reviewed the designs of the smoking rooms from the six operators, with the Bureau deeming them "reasonable."  

The authority planned to decrease the area of gaming business for the 14 casinos that failed to pass the previous air quality test launched by SSM. Cheang said yesterday that the punishment was stopped because casinos proposed the smoking-room plan. "We think that the full smoking ban in mass floors, as suggested by six operators, works better than decreasing the area of gaming business in some casinos." According to the authorities, smoking rooms should be set up no later than October 6 this year. Enditem