A number of businesses located in Macau’s Zona Nova de Aterros do Porto Exterior (NAPE) held a joint press conference late Sunday calling on the government and related gaming concessionaires to suspend their decision to close the city’s satellite casinos.
Nearly 30 local merchants were in attendance, outlining their stance that if satellite casinos, especially Landmark, were to close it would have a significant impact on their businesses. They called on the government, which confirmed on 9 June that all 11 of the city’s satellites would close by year’s end, to reconsider its decision.
NAPE is home to a number of satellite casinos operating under the concession of SJM Resorts.
In an interview, a representative of the businesses – calling himself Mr Wong – said that customers in the NAPE area are mostly gaming tourists. As such, should satellite casinos close, the area will lose those core tourists which would have a significant impact on businesses.
“Is there really no room for negotiation?” Mr Wong asked. “Currently, the satellite casinos have not contacted the other five concessionaires and the concessionaires have not contacted the satellite casinos.
“If negotiations with SJM Holdings fail, can the government negotiate with the other five concessionaires to allow the satellite casinos in the NAPE to continue operating?”
Mr Wong called on the government to “reconsider” the impact that closing satellite casinos would have on surrounding businesses.
The Macau government has previously stated that it will assist businesses in the NAPE area to transform and introduce new intellectual property to attract tourists. However, Mr Wong said that businesses have already invested some of their capital, making it difficult to transform.
“Introducing new intellectual property will not help businesses because customers in the NAPE area are all related to satellite casino visitors,” he said. “The most practical way to ensure that business in the new port area is not affected is to retain the satellite casinos.”
At the press conference, business representatives collected signatures from about 70 businesses which they will consider submitting to the government in the future. In addition, businesses in the NAPE area also plan to hang red cloth at their entrances to signify the impact that the loss of satellite casinos will have on their business.
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