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Macau. A former minister was anointed Macau’s new leader on Sunday as the Chinese gambling enclave struggles with an industry slump brought on by the economic crisis and tougher visa restrictions on visitors.

Fernando Chui’s endorsement by a 300-member panel loyal to Beijing was a mere formality: he was the sole candidate for chief executive in the former Portuguese colony’s first leadership change since reverting to Chinese rule in 1999.

Chui will figure prominently in shaping Macau’s casino industry, which has surpassed the Las Vegas Strip as the world’s gambling capital but has started sputtering over the last year from the global downturn and visa curbs on mainland Chinese tourists.

But with much of the city’s gaming policy already cemented, Chui is not expected to bring any major changes in the near term.

“We will mainly follow these policies to allow Macau’s gambling sector to develop in a healthy manner and hopefully it will hold an edge in Asia,’’ Chui said. “The policy for the next few years is basically set. Everyone has to work extra hard in this competition to maintain the outstanding results that we have achieved in the gambling sector in the past few years.”

The incumbent, Edmund Ho, announced last year that Macau would not issue new casino licenses or approve new applications for gambling tables or slot machines in the near future.

But there are growing expectations that Chui’s election might lead Beijing, in a goodwill gesture, to end the travel restrictions on mainland visitors, Macau’s biggest customers by far.

Casino mogul Stanley Ho, whose SJM Holdings is Macau’s biggest gambling company, said that he believed Chui wouldn’t push for more regulations on the industry. He suggested that Chui could also help tame some of the acrimony among Macau’s six casino operators.

“He will ensure that there should not be any fighting among the six of us and we should work together for the good of the citizens, for the good of Macau,” said Ho, a member of the election committee that picked Chui.

Chui is to take office in December and serve a five-year term after his appointment receives formal approval from Beijing.

Unlike neighboring Hong Kong, Macau has a history of strong pro-China sentiment and only a token presence of pro-democracy opposition lawmakers.



Associated Press