Inside Asian Gaming

October 2011 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 37 Macau Policy near as outspoken and politically aware as the populace in neighbouring Hong Kong, there is nonetheless a growing chorus of local voices calling for greater process and transparency in Macau planning. Much of the popular debate locally in the media and on message boards centres on perceptions that Macau is overcrowded and has too many foreign workers. It’s not often that a community agitates for smaller numbers of new jobs. But that’s a function of Macau’s tiny size (29.5 square kilometres); high population density (18,568 people per sq. km., the top ranking in the world) and miniscule unemployment rate (2.7% in August). Mr Wynn is politically savvy and well aware of the pressure the government is under locally and from Beijing in this regard. That was probably one reason he was careful to target his charm offensive regarding his Cotai land rights on a big donation to a socially-worthy cause. That was a HK$1 billion payment spread over 11 years for the new University of Macau for believing this gesture had gained him enough political capital in Macau (in terms of ‘giving back’) to make a formal announcement about gaining his Cotai land rights. What we don’t know for sure is whether a memo went out from Wynn Macau to the government prior to Wynn’s stock market announcement to the effect: “Is it okay if we say something publicly on Cotai now?” That would certainly have been the sensible course given the sometimes unhappy experience of other Macau operators with premature public announcements. And if that protocol was followed by Wynn, then subsequent statements by public servants saying the thing isn’t yet decided imply that the government isn’t speaking with one voice. It’s true that there is a third party involved in rights to the Wynn Cotai land. But that’s unlikely to create major legal difficulties provided that all parties are working together for an amicable and equitable outcome—as they currently seem to be. Learning curve—SteveWynn chose carefully with his University of Macau donation campus on Hengqin Island in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), just over the border from Cotai. Mr Wynn probably had some grounds