World Gaming Magazine

35 WGM #56 2018/03 wgm8.com W GM: How prevalent is problem gambling in Macau? Davis Fong: We use a scale to calculate the prevalence of gambling disorders called DSM-V and from that scale we have found that around 2.5% to 2.6% of people suffer from one of the three different levels of gambling disorder. Using the old scale, the DSM-IV, the peak level was 6% in 2007 so if you look at this data I would say it’s pretty much under control. Even if you look back a little bit to 2003, the first year we conducted a prevalence study, at the time the level was 1.8% to 2.5%. That’s the percentage of all people aged 18 to 64. WGM: But not all people gamble, so if you look at it as a percentage of people that gamble, it will be a higher number. DF: In 2003, we had 65% of people who gambled at least one time in the last 12 months. Using the same scales and measures, the number in 2016 was around 50%. So, based on that measure and looking at the people who actually get involved in gambling, you multiply that by two. Taking into account that 2.5% to 2.6% of people suffer from some level of gambling disorder, that means the percentage of people who gamble and suffer from problem gambling is around 5% today. WGM: Do you have any research that gives you any insights to why it has gone down? DF: Unfortunately we don’t have any testing regarding the down trail of so-called problems, but there are some speculations. One of them is the introduction of responsible gambling initiatives in 2009 – it’s in its ninth year already. I think people actually understand problem gambling and responsible gambling now. To be more precise, before we did any promotions, around 16% of people understood and knew about problemgambling and responsible gambling. Now that figure is 63%. From 16% to 63%— I guess there may be some effect from those people who understand it and can control their gambling behavior. This is one of the speculations because of the responsible gambling promotions. WGM: What is the visibility of responsible gaming to the top players who are mainly from mainland China? What are the ways that the players can know there is a program available to them? DF: Very good question. Starting from 2017, last year, the government shifted the focus from local people to tourists. We put a lot of resources at the border gates. In Gongbei they actually have a booth there where people can download the app about problemgambling and responsible gambling. At the same time, we put some blue boxes just in front of the border gate to make tourists aware of problem gambling and responsible gambling. We also have responsible gambling kiosks, around 30 of them, around Macau. At the end of the day we hope each casino or gaming area will have a kiosk. Our ultimate goal is to have around 40 kiosks. That way, when tourists visit the casino floor, they can see a kiosk. We check the hit rates of these kiosks and up to this moment there have been around 30,000 hits of the kiosks and 70%of themhave been by tourists.