Gaming, Governance and Public Policy in Macao

The small city of Macao—formerly a Portuguese colony, now a Special Administrative Region of China—liberalised its gaming industry in 2002. Since then a score of new casinos have been built and millions of gamblers have flooded in from mainland China. Per capita income has more than doubled in five years and the gaming operators have outstripped their Las Vegas counterparts in revenue and profits. But rapid economic growth has also brought social and political problems. In this structured survey of modern Macao, 15 experts examine the effects of massive foreign investment, the problems of governance, and increasing public policy challenges in a time of rapid change and potential social instability. They also discuss the efficacy or otherwise of measures to address economic hardship, social dislocation and political change over the past decade.

Gaming, Governance and Public Policy in Macao will be of interest to anyone concerned with the gaming industry and its uses in strategies for economic growth. For those who want to know more about Macao than its gaming tables and neon lights, the book will provide a range of interpretations of the way in which the city is developing.

Newman M. K. Lam is a professor of public administration in the University of Macau. He was the Head of the Department of Government and Public Administration between 2006 and 2009 and the Head of the Department of Social Sciences between 2004 and 2006. He was a visiting scholar at the University of Hong Kong between 1997 and 2000 and taught at the University of Victoria, Canada, between 1991 and 1997. He is currently a member of the Macao SAR government’s Conselho Consultivo para a Reforma da Administração Pública and Comissão De Avaliaçao Dos Serviços Públicos. Ian Scott is Emeritus Professor and Fellow of the Asia Research Centre at Murdoch University and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Public and Social Administration at the City University of Hong Kong. He taught at the University of Hong Kong between 1976 and 1995 and was Chair Professor of the Department of Politics and Public Administration between 1990 and 1995. Between 1995 and 2002, he was Chair Professor of Government and Politics at Murdoch University. His most recent book is The Public Sector in Hong Kong (Hong Kong University Press, 2010).

“This important volume provides an informative and comprehensive overview of governance and public policy in Macao. A major contribution is the link that is traced between the recent liberalisation of gaming policy and emerging challenges to social development, politics, and administration. Strong attention to the deeper historical background also enables contemporary problems to be understood within a perspective that stretches back well into the last century, before Macao’s establishment as a special administrative region of China. Gaming, Governance and Public Policy in Macao will be a valuable reference for all students and researchers interested in post-1999 Macao.” —Tak-Wing Ngo, Professor of Political Science at the University of Macau and IIAS, Professor of Asian History at Erasmus University Rotterdam.