About 85 percent of former Macau junket agent employees have yet to find new work after the collapse of the sector late last year, according to a local survey.
Those who did find a job had accepted lower wages, local media reports cited the survey as saying. It was carried out by the Integrated Service Centre of the Macau Gaming Industry Employees Home.
“The employment situation for these former workers is dire,” said Pak Kin Pong, supervisor of the centre, an affiliate of the Macau Federation of Trade Unions, was cited by Macau Business as saying.
The survey polled 309 workers, with just under half of them having worked at Suncity, Macau’s largest junket operator. Just over 18 percent were employed by Tak Chun Group and 12.3 percent were Guangdong Group employees.
Of those who had found work, 8.1 percent were in non-gaming firms, while 3.8 percent were with gaming operators, or other junket entities.
Suncity closed its operations in December after the arrest of CEO Alvin Chau late last year. Chau was is being held in pre-trial detention on charges of organizing illegal gambling and suspected money laundering. Tak Chun head, Levo Chan, is also in custody and facing similar allegations, with the additional charge of being the head of a triad gang. The latter carries a sentence of up to 15 years in jail.
