Macau has already achieved its short-term diversity goals, according to the director of Macau’s gaming regulator, Paulo Martins Chan.

Speaking on a panel at MGS Summit on Tuesday morning examining the law and supervision of Macau’s gaming industry, the DICJ director pointed to the fact that the government’s initial goal as part of its Five-Year Development Plan from 2016 to 2020 had already been exceeded beyond the 9% non-gaming target, with non-gaming spend in Macau now hovering around 12%.

“If you read all the news you will know that we already met that target,” Chan said in response to questions on the issue. “For the development of non-gaming, we singled out the gaming industry and we hoped there would be some synergy there between gaming and non-gaming.”

A greater focus on the provision of non-gaming facilities has been a key directive to Macau’s concessionaires in relation to the opening of new Cotai IRs in recent years, however Chan suggested it was now up to the market rather than government to drive further diversification.

“People may ask what measures the DICJ has taken to encourage operators to introduce non-gaming,” he said. “Of course we had some encouragement measures but I believe it is better to use the market as a guide for transformation rather than government, which is not as effective as the market itself.

“It’s better if there is a market change so the concessions themselves choose the path.”