Macau smoking ban comes into force

A smoking ban on Macau’s casino floors came into effect Monday and is expected to contribute to weakness in gross gambling revenue in the months ahead, analysts said.
"Macau growth has decelerated sharply and will remain weak for the next few months,” Aaron Fischer, a Hong Kong-based analyst at CLSA Ltd., wrote in a recent note. “There will be some teething problems around the new smoking ban.”
In May, Macau’s health agency announced all casinos are required to implement smoking bans on gaming floors beginning from Oct. 6. However, VIP rooms are exempt.
It was also thought that enclosed premium mass areas would also be exempt, however, last week the government put out a statement that implied the ban would be stricter than initially expected.
“This announcement would be different to our earlier understanding that partitioned premium mass areas on the mass floor would allow smoking,” Barclays said in a note Friday. The new rules completely ban all smoking in “mass areas.”
“While previously we had expected just a low-to-mid-single-digit percentage impact to overall gross gaming revenue from the smoking ban (if premium mass areas can still smoke), we would now expect a higher mid-to-high-single-digit impact to overall GGR if smoking is not allowed in all premium mass areas as well,” the firm said.