BRICSAM Seminar
Since the early 2000s, Macao's casinos have been transformed from a domestic monopoly to diversified joint ventures and foreign investment. Six casino franchises were granted to local and foreign casino capitalists. The entry of the American, Australian and Hong Kong casino capitalists has transformed Macao's casino industry in several aspects: (1) the administrative modernization of the local casinos; (2) the interest articulation and managerial uniqueness of foreign casino forces; (3) the participation of local casino capitalists in legislative elections; (4) the local opposition to the deeper involvement from foreign capitalist actors; (5) the governmental response to money-laundering activities and to the casino-related socio-economic and managerial problems (such as addictive gambling, the import of labor and the widening income gap); (6) the changing operational modes of the local triads; and (7) Beijing's reactions to the influx of mainland Chinese to gamble in Macao and to the territory's economic dependency on casino capitalism. The seminar will highlight all these administrative, politico-managerial, electoral, oppositional, and criminal transformations as well as governmental responses at both the local and central levels.
Discussant: Dr Andrew F. Cooper, CIGI Associate Director