Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) and the Judiciary Police have asked the city’s casino operators to increase their frontline manpower in response to last Friday’s devastating attack on Resorts World Manila.
The request came during an emergency meeting on Sunday in which the city’s various stakeholders discussed ways of boosting security to prevent a similar attack from taking place in Macau. Thirty-seven people were killed on Friday when 42-year-old Jesse Carlos Javier stormed RWM and set fire to a number of gaming tables before taking his own life.
The meeting, attended by representatives of all six concessionaires, saw authorities request a raft of new measures including to “increase the manpower to strengthen the frontline security work” and the “first line of defense,” according to a statement by the DICJ on Monday.
“In addition, the police station proposed the casino install security equipment and improve security measures to prevent serious accidents in the casino,” it said. “The police station also proposed to strengthen the communication with the casino security department in the event of a joint incident between the two sides,” helping concessionaires and officials be “more effective” in dealing with potential situations.
Asked about the security efforts of Macau’s concessionaires, Galaxy Entertainment Group COO Mr Kevin Kelley told Inside Asian Gaming, “I think we can always do better. We’re a company that is focused on continuous improvement and so we can always do better.
“[But] it’s a very new experience for everyone. I think the DICJ took this very, very seriously as did the PJ (Judiciary Police) and they got everybody together.
“They had a very high level meeting with the concessionaires and the two bodies and I believe very good things are going to come out of that in terms of continuously improving the overall safety of the industry.”
In its statement, the DICJ said, “Participants agreed to work together to further strengthen casino security work and to improve the handling of serious accidents. The industry will submit the relevant reports and proposals and agree to discuss the details at a later meeting.”
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