Casino offers free bus rides to gamblers
MACAO: A new casino started yesterday to ferry customers from across the border to the SAR with free shuttle buses.
Until March 15, the newly opened Greek Mythology is sending luxurious coaches to pick up customers in Zhuhai, Xinhui, Guangzhou, Zhongshan and other cities in Guangdong. The shuttle buses run as frequently as once every five minutes.
Mainlanders who have purchased 2,000 pataca-worth of chips from the casino will be given a pass, with which they can enjoy unlimited free rides. Macao and Hong Kong residents on the mainland can also enjoy the service. Some other casinos also started providing free shuttle bus services between the border and their locations from last month.
Critics have pointed out that with increasing interaction between the two places and the implementation of the Individual Travel Scheme, more mainland residents are coming to Macao to gamble. This development will inevitably lead to addiction to gambling and hence social problems. The added convenience of free transportation may intensify this trend, they said.
Some gamblers, however, said they actually place more significance on whether or not the particular casino brings them luck than whether they can go there for free.
Miss Lu, a Zhuhai resident, said she visited Macao every month and spent more than 10,000 patacas in the casinos each time.
“Free bus tickets are not important. I can buy many if I can win in the casinos,” she said.
Another frequent mainland visitor, Mr Lin, considered the free bus service a good arrangement because it could at least guarantee gamblers the transportation back home.
The transport sector in Macao is divided in their opinions on whether or not such free bus services would undercut the business of other modes of transportation.
Transmac bus company does not think it would. Chen Xiaoyang, the company’s deputy general manager, said that as long as these services remain point-to-point, the increase of visitors they are expected to bring about will offset the business they are taking away from the company.
Many taxi divers, however, think otherwise.
One of them, Mr Chan, pointed out that the former New Century Casino - now called Greek Mythology - was the favourite casino of mainlanders. Many visitors simply took a taxi to go there after crossing the border. But, with the introduction of the shuttle bus service, most of them are not doing that any more.
He expected that many more casinos will provide free transportation services for their customers, increasing pressure on the taxi trade. He hoped the SAR government could help taxi drivers survive by putting a stop to such a practice.
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