Nelson Rose, a visiting professor at Macau University and an apparent expert in gaming regulation, gave an extensive interview to the Macau Daily Times in today’s edition. In a nutshell, Rose seemed to be saying that Macau’s gaming industry is not very well regulated and the junkets are a historical accident that the casinos would rather do without.

Now, before anyone falls off their seat laughing, we would caution that none of what Rose says is necessarily untrue. He might be mistaken in his assessment of the pros and cons of having junkets in Macau indeed, we chuckled especially hard at the part where he says he cannot see any advantage to having junkets now that the casinos have the ability to grant credit themselves but the facts are pretty indisputable. It’s true the government could have gotten rid of the third-party casino operators under the SJM banner in 1999. It’s also true that it would have been very difficult.

The only historical timeline where we think Rose may have done readers a disservice by stopping a bit short was when he was asked about the similarity of the Macau and Nevada gaming regulatory systems. Saying they are both very old and new, he reckons Macau’s dates back “at least” to the beginning of the 20th century and the imposition of the monopoly (the original one under the Fu family). We would argue that it goes way back beyond that, to the founding of certain organizations that have always played a vital role in maintaining the peace and stability of this territory. They might bicker among themselves now and then, but without them, Macau would simply not be what it is today. Stay tuned. Used with permission & copyright IntelMacau.com