Girl, 16, gets to keep Macau jackpot
MACAU: A 16-year-old girl who won a small fortune while gambling at a Macau casino has been allowed to keep her winnings.
The girl’s age meant she was not permitted to enter the Sands Macau casino, whose management did not hand over her HK$740,000 winnings immediately after she won the jackpot on February 20.
Sands argued that she was too young to be in the casino in the first place.
Three days later, Macau’s director of gaming inspection and coordination bureau (DICJ), Manuel Joaquim das Neves, said the mother would be entitled to receive her daughter’s full winnings from the Sands Macao.
The DICJ said the Sands Macao should have conducted a thorough ID-check to ensure that no minors enter the casino and has written to the Sands, asking it to pay the amount in full to the mother of the young winner.
Subsequently, Sands Macao released a statement insisting that it is strongly committed to responsible gambling.
It said: “Sands Macao assisted DICJ in every way, and after detailed consideration by the regulator of the facts and the Macao laws, received a direction as to the manner in which the prize should be dealt with. Sands Macao has fully complied with that direction.”
Destination Macau online newsletter said Macau’s Gaming Committee, which has responsibility for the future direction of the industry as well as policy-making, chaired by Macau chief executive Edmund Ho, is reportedly inactive and has yet to appoint members.
Ian Jarrett
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