China casinos’ staff back as clampdown fear eases

Different casino operators are now aggressively – albeit quietly – moving its staff back to China more than a month after the arrest of 18 Crown Resorts staff for gambling-related offenses.

The Australian Financial Review, which quoted anonymous sources, reported that big operators with casinos in Macau have quietly relaxed an earlier decision to cease marketing activity in China. The report identified the casino operators as Las Vegas Sands Corp, MGM Grand and Galaxy Entertainment.

It isn’t clear yet what prompted the casino operators to move their staff back to China six weeks after the clampdown in the James Packer-owned casino resort in China.

For one, Macau casino operators are becoming confident that the incident involving the Crown Resorts staff is an isolated case and does not represent a blanket clampdown on casino marketing activity in China.