Impact of Gaming Industry on Family Life A Exploratory Study

5/22/2018 Impact of Gaming Industry on Family Life A Exploratory Study

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M A R C H - A P R I L 2 0 0 6 N o . 6 4

S o c i e t y

The Impact

of Macaos Gaming Industry

on Family LifeA n exploratory study

G E R T I N A J . V A N S C H AL K W Y K ,EM ILI E T RA N , K A Y C HA N G

Th is projec t isa com prehensive situatio n an aly s isan dnee ds ass e ss m e nt o f th e psycho log ical we ll - be ing o fthe pe op le o f th e M acao Spe c ia l A dm inis trative

R e g io n(SA R ).Ov erall theaim isto gainan in -dept hun de r-stan din g o fth e co ntex tan dne e dso fth e lo calcom mun ity ino rde r to app ro priately pr o v ide psycho lo g ical se rv ice s an d todeve lop m ode ls fo r e f fective in terve ntion strate g ie s for theM acao co mm unity((2).Werepo rthe re on the firstphase o ftheprojec t an d on so me o f th e man y enabling an d disab l ingprocess eshav in g an impac tonthe we ll -be in g o fthe lo ca lpo -pu lat io n. The purp o se isto describe the pre se nt situatio nw ith

regard to fam ily life in M acao focusing in particular on theimpa ct o f the gam in g industry on fam ily and the respectivesub-syste m s(pa re ntsandchildren).A sM acao ga ins itspo li-ticaland econo m ic im po rtancealon g side itsbo om in g g am ingindustry, interes t in the stud ying M ac ao s in frast ru cture insoc ialan dpsycho lo g icalsuppo rtsy ste m shavebeco m e increas -ing ly relevant. The g am ing ind ustry, the majo r o f source o fem ploy m ent an d revenue in th e territo ry, inv olve s hidde nfacto rs co mpared to othe r ind ustries in the re g io n andinevitably ca pture sthe interesto fresearchersin psycho logicalandso c io lo g ica lto p ics .R esearch into and l iteratureo n fam ily l ife and ps ycho logicalaspe cts o fpe o p le inM acao isextrem ely l im ited. The current

know ledge ba se ma in ly re lieson studiesco nducte d in Ho ngKo ng , and about Chinese expatriate s liv in g outside M acao .The m ajo rity o f researchers w ho stud y th e psycholo gicalaspe ctso fC hinesecu lture an de th n icitypay little o rno atten -tion tothe un iqu e ne ss o fthe psycho - so cialsituation an drelat -ed ne e ds inM acao. InA ugust2005,an inde pende nt gro upo f researchers w ith g ov ernm ent fundin g conducted a large-sca lestudy on the Quality o fLife inM acao co verin g severaldim ensio nsrelated to ho w th e lo calpopu lation pe rceive an dexperie nceth e soc io - eco no m icstru ctureso fth e irda ily lives((3).Th isstudy,ho w ever,didn otconside rpsycho lo g icalaspe ctso f

1. This article is the outcome of research undertaken with a grant from the University

of Macau. The authors are all connected to the Faculty of Social Sciences and

H uman ities where they teach, r e s p e c t i v e l y, p s y c h o l o gy and socio lo gy.Correspondence can be directed to the principle investigator at: [email protected].

2. W e wish to thank all our key informants working respectively at Caritas, psychi-atric nursing recovery services, elderly care centres, and youth centres for at-risk

children and support of single parents, as well as the Ricci College (a secondaryschool in Macao) and leaders in schools an d institutions for higher learning for their

willing participation in this first part of the project. W e also wish to thank the Macao

Ricci Institute for having organised a seminar that was well attended by members

of the Macao public and press for the first presentation of the outcomes of thisproject. To the public at t e n d in g t h e M R I Forum on December 13 th 2005 and to thereviewers of China Perspectives we extend a special word of appreciation for their

comments that helped us improve this final version of the paper.

3. Personal communicat ion with Dr K K Tong, a collabora ting researcher, September2005.

The purpose of this article is to p re se nt a comprehensivesituation analysis and an assessment of the n eedso f the p eo p le o f M acao i n terms of their psychologicalw ell-being. I t descr ibes the p resent situation with r e gar dto the w ays in which the gaming industry affects familyli fe and challenges the psychological w ell-beingo f the residents of M acao. A ction research and a ke yin f ormant appro ach were the basic me thodologyfo r this study, and semi-structured in tervie w s were

conducte d to gain an understanding of the en abl in gand disabling processes in famil y life thr ough the impactof the gaming industry. T e xtual data were analysedqualitative ly fo r four dimensions. Four themesemerg edfamily functioning, r elationships, child careand p sycho-social issues in the family. Although no t theo n ly influence, i t seems the gaming industry doe s inde e daffect the family unit and the psychological w ell-beingof individuals and g roups bo th directly and indirectly((1).
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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S o c i e t y

peo ple s function ingan dwe ll - be ing. The lack of psy chologi -cal basel ine kno wledge and the mental health service deliv -ery sy stem, only in i ts infancy , are thus an im portant back -drop ag ainst which the larg er study w as conducte d.Traditionally M acao has depended, for the delivery of socialse rvices, on an inf or mal network o f rel igious organisations,neighbourhood associat ions, and var ious social clans. Atpr esent mental health care ser vices are m o s tly provided bysocial w o rk e rs and access to psychological services is limite dto v is i t ing prof essionals from Hong Kong and a few partlytrained psyc hological assistants (counsellors and parap rofes -sionals). R ecent f igure s s h o w the Macao go ve rnment sup -ports approximately 89 soc ia l worke rs for the populat ion of about 482,000 people ((4) . Figures for social w o rkers in non-go vernment o rganisat ions and psychologists are n o t av ai l -able. This is a m atter of par t icular co ncern and indicates thatMacao is, to an ex tent, w ant ing in terms of mental healthca re services. I t a lso seems that communication and colla-bor a t ion among most of the service providers are neitherwell developed nor o rg anised. A dding to the challenge is thelack o f p roviders of psy chological services, and a commonestablished practice of loading mental health w o rk tasks ontoclergy staff, social w o rkers and health care w o rk ers at best.

Family systems

The paper descr ibes the present reali ties of and c hallengesto family life in M acao. Famil ies of ten function according toa particular s tructure, and role appropriation for the dif fer en tm em be rs o f th e fa m i ly sy ste m d e ve lo ps . The Fam ilySy stems approach view s the family as a social g roup of indi -viduals tied to ge ther through their common biological ,le gal, cultural and emo t ional his to ry and their im pliedfuture((5). As a compl ex emotional uni t the family is prim a-r ily a l iving, ongoing enti ty t hat is organised as a whole

sy ste m w i th i t s members in continuous inte ract ion and form -ing relat ionship pat terns that extend over time and space. Inthe family, interconnecting f amily member s a f fect eacho the rs thoughts, f eelings and act ions based upon a circularcausality that transpires be tw een people wi t h in a f amily ((6),as w ell as betw e e n the family and the en vi ronment. Hencerelationships emerge w i thin the family and be tw e e n thefamily and social envi ronment t ha t inf luence individualde velopment and function ing. A s a psyc ho-social entity thefamily has a dis tinct influence on each member s develop -ment and psychological w ell-being. T he f amily can in f act bean obstacle to psychological w ell-being, particularly w h e nthe family sy stem faces c hang e to i ts core values or when a

c hang e in the funct ion ing o f one per son predictably elicitsc hange in the functioning of o the rs .In Macao at least four f amily g roups w ere ident if ied repre -senting dif ferent and unique cultural heritag es. Macanesefamilies reflected a mixed-race her itage with Portuguese andChinese the dom inant cultures, and c us toms that w ere par -ticular to M acao. Chinese families manifested in two dis tinctg roups with famil ies who mig rat ed to M acao and hav e beenl iving the re for at leas t thr ee genera t ions in o ne group, andne w er Chinese individuals and f amil ies who hav e mig ratedto the enclav e s ince the handover to the PR C i n 1999 andare considered as first g enerat ion autho rised residents of M acao in the second group . The majo ri ty of f amil ies in thelatter gro u p ca m e f rom Guangdong, wi th 4,848 (70%) legalimmig rants fro m that province in 200 4 alone. Both thesegroups still adhered to t radit ional Chinese custo m s a nd cu l -tu ral heritag e, with the former sho wi ng m o re acculturation,either with or without st rong t ies to their famil ies of originon the mainland. In the lat ter group the general trend w asalso f o r m o re w o m e n to leave their family o f o r i g i n a nd co m eto Macao either wi th o r w i thout her children to find em ploy -m e nt . A n average 61.33% o fle ga lim m ig rantsfrom the m ain -land in 2004 were wo m en ((7). The fo urth gro up o f fami-

lie s were m ixe d: so m e fam ili es were o f Po rtug uese back-

g round m aint a in ingstro ngtie sw iththe irco un tryandcul tureo f o rig in , som e expatri ate fam il ie s fro m around the wo rld,andafairco mm unityo ffam il ie s o rig ina tingfro m oth e rA sianco untr ie sin the re g io n(e .g .,Ph ili pp ine s, N e pal, e tc.).Family systems in the multi-cultural context o f Macao to ala rg e e x tent still reflected conserv ative and traditional valuesand cus t oms. Al t hough the nuclear f amily system w as evi -dent, we encountered a mixed cultural heritag e that influ -e n ce d v a lue s and be l ie fs abo ut w h at w as co nside re dnormal f amily life. The data collected for this pro j ec t

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4. W ebsite of Direco dos Servios de Estatstica e Censos (DSEC, Statistics and Census

Ser vice), http://www.dsec.gov.mo/e_index.html, last visited on December 12th 2005.

5. Monica McGoldrick, Randy Gerson and Sylvia Shellenberger, Genograms: Asses sme ntand Intervention, New York, W .W. N o r t o n & C o m p a n y, 1999, p. 7; see also Murray Bowen,Family Therapy in Clinical Practice, N e w York, Jason A r o n s o n , 1978; Irene Goldenbergand Herbert Goldenberg, Family Therapy: an Overview, Australia, Brooks/Cole ThomsonLearning, 2000; Christie Connard, The Ecology of the Family. A Background Paper for aFamily-Centered A pproach to Education and Social Service Deliver y on http://www.nwrel.org; Gertina van Schalkwyk, Mapping family systems for ethical decision mak-ing in Iva Smit, W endell W allach and George E. Lasker (eds.), Cognitive, Emotive andEthicalAspects of Decision Ma king in Hu man s and Ar tif ici al Int ell ige nce ,V o l. IV, Canada,The International Institute for Advanced Studies in Systems Research and Cybernetics,

2005.

6. Goldenberg & Goldenberg, op. cit. p. 19.

7. W ebsite of Direco dos Servios de Estatstica e Censos (Statistics and CensusSer vice), http://www.dsec.gov.mo/e_index.html, last visit on December 12th, 2005.
http://www/http://www/http://www/http://www/http://www/http://www/http://www/http://www/http://www/


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fo cu sed m o s tly on the first thre e groups of famil ies withM acanese and Chinese her itag e , who cons tituted the larg es tproport ion o f t he Macao popula t ion , wi th approximatel y9.5% of the population 19 year s o f ag e and younger.A lt hough the Macanese families reflected a unique mix intheir cultural heritag e, all the family sy stems reflected stro ngmacro-level beliefs about the values of f amily l ife, harm o -nious living and filial piety.A ltho ug hpsycho lo g icalwe ll - be ing isnot traditio nallyaco n -cept use d in C hinese fam ily sys te m s, fo lklo re and anc ie ntC hine sew ritin g srefe r to th e conce pt o fhapp ine ss ass o c ia t-e dw ithfu o rfu qi(

), w hichin vo lve sanyth ingpo s itive

an dg oo d in life and relate dto lon g evity,pro sperity,heal th,pe ac e ,v irtu e andaco m fo rta ble de ath((8).Th isconce p tualisa -tiono fhapp ine ss relate sto w hat is im p lied bypsycho logicalwe ll - be ingas aco mplexse to fbe havio urs,thoug hts, feelingsan dre latio nshipsthat unde rlie the o v era ll phy sicalandso c io -em otiona lwe llne ss o fpeo p le in acom m un ity . R esearch intoth eco n ce pt o f the purpo se and me anin g o f life invo lve sthewe ll - be ing o findiv idu als andg roupsin d ifferentco ntex tssuchasthe wo rk p lace , e xplo ra tio nsregardin g the cu ltura lv a lueso fhapp ine ss ,an dm ore recently,p s ycho fo rto lo gy ((9).Whe re asalac k o f m e an ing in l ife co uld be ass o c ia te d w ith psy -

cho patholo gy((10)

, so m e au tho rs((11)

indicate th at purpo se inandm e an in g o fl ife co nstitute scritica lco mpo ne nt so fm e nt alhealthw it han e mpha siso nase nse o fd irecte dne ss and inten -tio nality. So urce s o f pe rs o nal me an in g in flue nce cop ingstrate g ie s fo rstre ss , w h il estro n g re l ig io usbe l ie fs, g roupm e m -bersh ip ,value s,c le arg o alsan dde dication to acau se furtherindicate sthe e xte n tto w hichth e d em an dso flife are se e naswo rth yo f in vest m ent and e ngagem ent.It can thus be assum ed that psyc hological w ell-being for thefamil ies of Macao wil l emerge in this his to rical time, multi-cultural context and with the boom in the gaming indus trywhen posi t ive emo t ions are fo stered and en courag ed w hi le

there is a low er level of negative emo t ions in viewing oneso ve rall satisfaction with l i f e. In order to enhance the psy -chological wel l -being of a com munity, i t is necessary to focuso n p rev entive inter vent ions that would decrease r i sk pro -cesses that can contr ibute to the development of psycholo-gical problems and pa thologies ((12). Risk processes a re th o s efeatures that reduce the biological , psyc hological and socialcapaci t ies of individuals and envi ronment s in o rder to main -tain a healthy and well-balanced socie ty. Psyc hologicalser vices w ould f o c u s o n the promotion of coping abi l i t iesand the development o f adap ti v e and pro tective p rocessesbo th for individuals and en v ir onment s so as to i ncrease orenhance the capacit ies for sustained psy chological w e l l -

being. Fra m ew o rks for mental health care se rvices should bede veloped aimed at pro viding inte r v ent ions that wouldanswer to the needs of the local populat ion and that areaccessible to a l l member s o f the community , children, ado -lescents and adults ((13).

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8. Luo Lu, Robin Gilmour and Shu-Fang Kao, Cultural values and happiness: An Eas t-Westdialogue, in The Journal of Social Psychology, V o l. 141 No. 4, 2001, pp. 477-493.

9. Psychofortology as a domain is a contradistinction to psychopathology and studies the

origins, nature, manifestations and enhancement of psychological well-being in the lives

of individuals and communities. See e.g., Mustafah Ahmed A r a fa , M e r vat W.A . N a z e l ,Nahla K. Ibrahim and Ashraf Attia, Predictors of psychological well-being of nurses inA l e x a n dr i a , Eg ypt in Int ern a tional Journal of Nursing Practice, V o l. 9, 2003, pp. 313-

320; Paula Brough, A comparative investigation of the predictors of work-related psy-chological well-being within police, fire and ambulance workers, in New Zeal and

Journal o f Psy cholo gy, V o l. 34, No . 2, 2005, pp. 127-134; and Marie Wissing and Chrisvan Eeden, Empirical clarifica tion of the nature of p sychological well-being, in South

African Jo urnal of Psy chology, V o l. 32, No . 1, 2002, pp . 32-44.

10. See Irvin Yalom in Sheryl Zika and Kerr y Chamberlain, On the relation between mean-ing in life and psychological well-being, in the British Journa l o f P sychol ogy,V o l. 83,1992, pp. 133-145.

11. See C arolRyff, H appiness is everythin g, orisit? E xplo rations onthe meaningo fpsycho -logicalwell-being intheJournalofPersona lityandSocialPsycho logy, V o l. 57, 198 9, pp.564-577;andCaro lRyffandCo reyL .M . K e ye s, T he structure o fpsycho logicalwell-beingr evisited, intheJourna lof Persona lityandSocialPsychology, V o l. 69, 1995, pp. 719-727.

12. See e.g., K arenD uffyandFrankW o ng, Commun ityPsycho logy, NewYo rk,A llynandB acon,2003fo rmore about develo pingservice framew orksandthe impo rtance ofprimarypre-ventionfo rempow eringco mmunitiesto co pe w iththe impact ofexternalchallenges.

13. See, for example, James Dalton, Maurice Elias and Abraham W andersman, Community

Ps y chology: Linking Individua l

s

and Commun ities, C a n ad a , W ad swo rth T homs onLearning, 2001.

In2004, gam ingtax accountedfo r77.8%

ofM acaus fiscalrevenue


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The gaming industry in Macao

To da y few people know an ything about Macao o ther than i tis a gambling have n o n the south China coast . In f act, thi shas been so only for the pas t 150 years and it to o k t i m e toco nvert the Chinese passion fo r gambling into the big busi -ness that the gaming indus tr y has become. Up to the mid-nineteen th century, Macao served as a tr ading pos t in thelucrative sea trade Po rtu gal had engag ed in wi th Japan, thePhilippines, China, Malaysia, India and Europe. It hadne ver been view ed as a real colony by Po rtu gal and in asense i t has only ev er been a terr ito ry adminis tered in orderto rea p m a xi m u m p ro fi t s. A l though M acaos fo rtunes expe -rienced ups and downsdepending on ho w open or c losedthe C hinese and the Japanese empires w ere to fo reign trad eat any par ticular timethe tiny Po rtuguese enclave enjoy eda considerable degree of pro sp erity.I t w ould be wro n g though t o assume that Macao was no th -i ng m o re th a n a c o m m e rcial entrept. Macao has also beena city of commerce and culture((14). Indeed, it was inMacao, if anywh ere, [that] East and Wes t did meet, asonce jus tly put by Char l e s B o xer, a renowned h i s to rian of the Por t uguese in A s ia((15). The encoun ter and e xchang e that

occurred in M acao have given the terr ito ry i ts blend of cul-

tu ral and historical herit ag e ((16), which uniqueness has beenasserte d by UNESC O((17).The Tre aty o f N anji n g , s ig ne d in 1842 , n o t o n ly e nd e dth e firs tOp ium Wa r, bu ta ls o s e a le dth e fa te o fM ac ao byes ta bl ish in g Ho n g Ko n g ((18) an d o pe n ing fi ve por t c i tie s( C a n to n ,Fuzh o u ,X iam e n , N ingb o an d Shangh a i) to fo r-e ig n re s id e nc e an d trade . S in ce the n ,the n e w bor n B ri t i s hc o l o ny do m inate dth e m ar it im e tr ade an dpr o v ide d aba sefo r bu s ine ss e s th at M acao had n e v e r dre am t o f o r m an -a g e d to de v e l o p . Hav ing lo s t i ts tra d it io na l c o m m e rc ia lre l e vanc e and c o n fr o n te d w i th the e c o n o m ic an d so c ia l

d ec li ne th at we nt a lo n g w i th pr o m is in g inhabitants e m i -gra tin g to Ho n g Ko n g and e ls e w h e re in se arc h o f b e t te ro p p o r tun i tie s , the ad m in is tra to rs o f M acao saw th e i rl iv e liho o d s de e p ly th re a te n e d an d th e yh ad to fin d so m eo the r so urce s o f in te rn a l re ve nue . I n o rd e r to s urv i v e ,M ac ao n e e d e d to sp ec ia l is e in act iv i tie s ne ith e r Ho n gKo ng n o r any ne arby p o r t c i ty li k e C ant on co u l d o f fe r,an d in 18 51 M acao sta rte d , am o n g st o the r e n de avo u rs ,th e c o o l ie tra d e ((19 ). Afte r this tra de w as p ro h i b i t e d inHo n g Ko n g ,M ac ao b e c am e al lthe m o re in v o lv e d an d itw as m o s t lys ub s idise d by B ri tish , A m e ric an and C hine sec a p i ta l, un t il the Po rtu g ue se C ro w n, und e r p ub l ic pr e s -s u re , p ro hib i te d i t in 1873.

A n o ther strategy thus had to be adop ted by the administra -t ion and monopolies w ere granted no t only to pro fitable andinnocent commercial activi t ies suc h as fi shing oy sters andsales of fo o d s tuffs like salt , f ish, pork and beef, but also tom o re harmful and lucrative tr ades, such as the one on boiledopium and gambling ((20). The idea of licensed gamblingunder the governo rship of Cap tain Guimares (1851- 1863)pr o v ed a success fro m the s tar t, and in 1910, the Go verno r,repor ting to M acaos Deputy in the Po rtuguese Par liament,sta ted that 70 percent of all income of the A dministrat ioncame fro m th e m o no p o l i e s o f ga m b l i ng a nd o p i u m a nd o n ly30 percent fro m o ther sources of revenue ((21).There ha v e alway s been some fo rm s o f gambl ing in China ,alt hough i t was prohibi te d((22). Today mahjong is regular lyplay e d by local residents at f amily gather ings and wi t hfr iends. Ho w ever, in the conte xt of the prohibit ion under theim p er ial regime and later added to by the surg e of anti-gam -bling sentiments of the Chinese authorit ies in the late n ine -teenth century, the ver y m o no p o l i e s g ranted to gamblinglegalised gambling in Macao and launc hed the Po rtugueseterr itory as a g ambling enclave. This was em phasised furthe rwhen Hong Kong banned gambl ing in 1871. Gaming con -tracts w ere grante d to o n ly a handful of f igureheads l ink ed to

each o ther in a com pl ex ne tw o rk of assoc iations, f ie rce co m-

pe t i tion and bac ks tabbing.

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14. Rolf D. Cremer (ed.),M ac au : City of Commerce and Culture, Hong Kong, A P I P re s s , 1991.

15. Cited in Eric Sauted,The East Did M eet the W est in Macao,Ho ngKong-Echos, No . 37,Autumn 2005, pp. 14-16.

16. Christina Miu Bing Cheng, Ma cau : A C ultura l J anus , H o n g Kong, H o n g Kong Univers ityPress, 1999.

17. U N E S C O a d d e d The Historic Centre of Macao, covering some 20 historical landmarks,including the old faade of Saint Paul and the temple of A - M a , on July 15th 2005 to itsprestigious W orld Heritage List.

18. Fernando Figueiredo, A Conjectura Poltica: D e p o i s D e H o n g Kong, in A . H. de OliveiraMarques,Hi st ria Do s P ortugueses No Extremo Oriente, op. cit. pp . 35-92.

19. Manuel Teixeira, O Comrcio de Escravos em Macao / The So-Called Portuguese SlaveTrade in Macao, Macao, Imprensa Nacional, 1976; and Fernando Figueiredo, op. cit .,

pp . 56-58.

20. As shown by Jon de Pina-Cabral, especially Chapter 4: Paradoxes: Gambling and the

Imperia l Civi l Service Examination, Between China and Europe: Person, Culture andEmotion in Macao, L o n do n & N e w York, Continuum, 2002. This chapter is one of themost, if not the m ost, comprehensive historical analysis of the gambling background of

Macao. Indeed, as pointed out by the author himself, p. 81: The history of these acti-

vities has not been researched in any systema tic way. Most of the governmental archival

material previous to 1960 relating to gambling contracts seems to ha ve mysteriously

vanished. There are some collections of materials mentioned by Pina-Cabral, like the

green book of the Inspeco dos Contratos de Jogos publish ed in 1985, and A n a M a r i aA m a ro , Jog os, Brinq uedos e Outras Diverse s Populares de Macau, Macao, ImprensaNacional, 1992. See also: A n t o n i o P i n h o , Gambling in Macau, in Rolf D. Cremer (ed.),op. cit., pp . 247-257.

21. Pina-Cabral, op.cit. p. 81.

22. Jacques Gernet, Dail y Life in China on the Eve of the Mon gol Invasion 1250-1 276,L o n do n , George Allen & Unwin Ltd , 1962.


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The Impact of M acao s Gaming Indus tr y on Family Life

In 1934 the gambling pol icy rea ched a turning po int whenthe local adminis tration f o r the fir st t ime granted a mono-po ly of al l cas ino-s ty le gambling to the syndicate Tai XingC o mpa ny, led by Gao Kening and Fu Laorong, thus f o r-mally institutionalising gambling as an industr y wi th careful-ly designed pol icies that e xcluded com p etition fro m o the rpotent ial bidders. Until the 1960s the y m a na ge d to securet he monopoly fo r themsel ves, and during the Tai Xing C o.er a, gambl ing b lossomed in Macao w hi le the ban imposedon gambl ing in the res t of China had been ver y str ictlyen fo rced by the Chinese Communist Par ty, which came intopo wer in 1949. Ano ther turning po int came in 1962 whenthe Macao go vernor, despite the suggest ion of the highestau tho ri t ies in Lisbon, grante d the casino franchise to theSociedade de Tur i s m o e D i verses de Macau (STDM ) ledby Stanley Ho and Yip Hon. The latter re ti red fro m thepa r tnership in 1975, thus al lowing S tanley H o to b e c o m ethe only casino magnate in the terr ito ry until the end of thefran c hise on December 31st 2001. The STDM introducedWes tern games suc h as roulette and baccarat to the casinos.Transpor tation betw e e n H o n g Kong and Macao was mo-de rnised by introducing highly efficient and fast ho vercraft

je tfoi ls , which had the direct result of enabling S tanley H o

to consol idate the casino indus tr y in the Po rtuguese enclave .In A ugus t 2001 the L egislative A ssembly o f Macao , prepar -ing f or the ending of the ST DM s 40-year - o l d mon opolyo ve r the terr i tor y s gaming indus try, passed Law 16/2001a cco rding t o whic h it officially established the LegalFra m e wo rk fo r the Ope ra tio ns o f C a s ino G am e s o fFo rtune and to ur i sm, gaming, conventions and exhibi t ions ,and the ser vice indus try became the economic driving f orcefor M acao. The SAR government opened the sector to tw onew playe rs fr om Las Veg as: the Las Veg as Sands Corp.and the Wynn R eso rt s . A lto ge ther wi th SJM (Sociedade deJogos de Macau), an affiliate of the form e r m o n o p o ly -hold -

e r STDM, the thr ee l i censed operato rs, joined by a f ew b i gpl ay ers, such a s M G M , Ker ry Pac ker and Galaxy through

jo in t-ventures, have announced frenzied in ves tments andgi gant ic casino and ho tel developments and projects that areunder construction on Macao peninsula and on Co tai, astr ip of reclaimed land betw e e n the islands of Taipa andColoane. The area wil l f eature n o t o n ly cas inos and ho tel s(10,000 rooms in t o tal) but also conference faci l i t ies on ag rand scale and is expecte d to empl o y 150,000 staff. Thenumber of casinos increased from 11 in 2002 to 17 in thethi rd quar ter of 2005 and Macao has already become thesecond larg es t gaming ci ty in the wo rld, behind Las Veg asin the Uni te d States. Thus, as we can see, the gaming

m o no p o ly , designed to ke e p the colonial adminis trat ionafloat in the mid-nineteen th century, has by far e xceeded alle x p e c tat io n s . I n de e d, in 2003, th e M ac ao G am in gInspect ion and Coord i nat i o n B u reau (GICB, 2003) repor t-ed that gaming tax co ntributed 74% to the M acao fiscal rev -enue. In 2004, the to tal public revenue amounted to 19.6bil lion patacas of whic h 15.2 bil l ion patacas came from thegambling tax ((23), that is to say 77. 8% o f t he go v ernm ent f is -cal rev enue: already a thr e e p e rcentag e point increase com -pared wi th 2003.In this conte xt it is apparent that the gaming industr y playsa majo r ro le in the lives and well-being of the local popula -t ion . T he econom ic grow th and wealth that the indus tr y hasbrought to th e co m m u ni ty, has created numerous em pl oy -ment opportunit ies and the Statis tic and Census Ser vices(DSEC) repor t that unempl o yment has decreased fro m6.4% in 2002 to 4.1 % i n the thi rd quarter of 2005 withal most 58% o f the populat ion working in the industr y. Manyyoung people are lured into w orking in the indus try fo rsalar ies that som et imes e xceed that of peer graduates in thego vernment and pr iv ate secto rs. Fur the rm o re , the industr yno t only support s casinos, but also a var ie ty of subsidiarybusiness endeavo ur s. In this reg ard, young girls are im ported

to wo rk i n t he sex trade, while larg e to ur is t g roups visit theterrito ry on a regular basis mo stly to par ticipate in gamblingbut also to enjo y the historical sites and her itag e of M acao.It is estimated that approximatel y 1 mil l ion people vis i t theterr ito ry e a c h m o n th, with P R C nat ional holiday s allowingthis figure to r ise to a lm o st 1.5 mill ion. For last Octo b e rindeed, wi th the N ational Day w ee k - long hol iday, theStatis tics and Census Ser vice indicated that the to tal num -ber of visitor arriv als rea c hed 1,663,623, up 10 .2 % year - o n -year. V isito rs from Mainland China, Hong Kong andTai w an, increased 9.8%, 10.9% and 2.9% respectively. Inth e firs t te n m ont hs o f 2005, v isito r arriv als to talled

15,438,078, up 12. 7% f or the same per iod of las t year. Them ajo rity of visitor s come f rom mainland China (57. 9 % o f the to tal), Hong Kong (28.2%) and Tai w an (7.8%), andamong the mainland vis i to rs, 491,989 (51.1%) trav elled toMacao under the Individual Visi t Scheme ((24). But theC o tai Str ip projec t w ith thousands o f ro o m s, m a r i nas ,lar g e e n ter tainment venues, shopping, dining and hug e con -vention and exhibition facilitiesis intended to dr aw peoplef ro m fa r th e r aw ay v is ito rs fro m Jap an, S in g a p o re ,

6

M A R C H - A P R I L 2 0 0 6 N o . 6 4

23. W ebsite of Direco dos Servios de Estatstica e Censos (Statistics and CensusSer vice), http://www.dsec.gov.mo/e_index.html.

24. Ibi d.
http://www/http://www/http://www/


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S o c i e t y

Thailand, from other places in the Asian region, and fro mthe res t of the wo rld ((25). Given that the terr ito ry co m pr iseso nl y approximately 27 squa re k i lo m etres, this influx of to ur is ts to the casinos and other f acilities create a very defi -ni te ov er-c ro wdedness no t only o n the stre e t s o f Macao , butin every co rner o f this small enclave .

Exploration

The re se a rch in th is fi rs t e x p l o ra tive s ta ge o f the p ro j e c tut il ise dth e k e y in fo rm an tap pro ac h(( 2 6 ). Th e in te n t io n w a sto g a in an in - de pth un de rs tan d in g o fthe p re se ntsi tuatio nisM ac ao in w hic h the gam in g indus t ry po s e s bo thd ire c tan d ind ire c t be n e fits and c h a l le n ge s to the w e l l - be in g o flo ca l re s id e nts . The k e y in fo rm an tappr o ac ha ll o w e dustoc o n d uct se m i - s t ruc t u re d fo c u s -g ro up and in div idu a l inte r -v ie w s ((27 ) w i thind iv idua ls c o ns id e re d k no w l e dge ab le aboutth e c o m m u n i ty , the re sid e n ts and the i r n e e ds (e .g . , p ro -

fe ss io n a l s, c o m m un i ty le ad e rs , c h u rch le ade rs , e t c . ) .B e cau se the s e in fo rm an ts w o rk e d dire c t ly w i th the co m -m u ni ty and re g u l a r ly in te ra c te d w it h the fam i l ie s inM a c a o , th e y w e re c o n sid e re d a s ha v ing a p art i c u l a rins ightinto the s i tu a t io n in th e c o m m u n i ty. Th e in te r v i e wsw e re re c o rde d o nau d io ta pe w i th th e co n s en to fth e inte r -v ie w e e so bta in e dpr io rto the in te r v ie w s e ss io n. The aud iore c o rd ingsw e re tran s c r ib e d and tra n s l a te d to p ro v ide te x -tu a l d ata fo r a nal y s i s((2 8 ). Fa m i l y pro fi le s in th e fo rm o fth re e - g e n e ra t io nge n o g ram s w e re use d to pr o v id e in fo r m a -tio n re ga rd in g the fa m ily st ru c tu re and fa m i ly h isto ry,an dthe im p ac to f this his to ry o n pre se ntan dp ro bab le futu rep a tte rn s(( 2 9).

Two assum pt ions need to be clar ified befo re continuing withthe discussion. In the analy sis w e focused on the gamingindus try in term s o f the ins titutionalisation and legitimisationo f g ambling as an economic gro w th entity. We did no t at alllook into attitudes, habits and behaviour patter ns of indivi-duals or f amilies directly in v o lved in gambling i tself . Muchhas been wr it ten on gambl ing behaviour and more wil l mostli k ely follow . We rather focused the analys i s on particularenabling and disabling processes pertaining to psycho-socialrelat ionship and behavioural issues related to the perceivedim pact of the gaming indus try o n individuals and f amily lifein Macao .S e c o n d l y, m an y o f th e the m e s tha t em e rg e d fro m th ea n a ly s is o f th e te x tu a l da ta c o u l d be co n s id e re d a s un i -v e rs a l pr ob l e m s a l so e v id e n t in o the r co u n t rie s d o m in at -e d by e n tire lyd iffe re n tin dus t r ie s. We a lso d o n o tne g a teth e fac t th at s o m e so c ia l an d fa m i ly iss ue s co u l d ha v ee x i ste d in M ac ao fo ra lo n g ti m e an dc o u ld p o ss ib ly no tb e at tri b u te d , e i the r in the p as t o r no w , to the g a m i n gi n d u s t ry pe r se . Whe re as the e n ab l in g an d dis ab li n gp ro c e ss e s re ga rd ing fa m i ly l ife h ad b e e n no t ic e ab le fo ralo n g t im e , m o s t l ik e ly s in ce th e sta rt o f the Po rt u g u e s ea d m i n i s t rat io n o f th e te r r i to ry an d , re l a te d to v a r i o u s

i n d u s t rie s , the rap id g ro w th o f th e g am ing indu st r y inre c e ntye a r sha se x a c e r b a te d th e s e is sue s to so m e e x te n t .Ou r fo c a l p o in t w a s no n e the l e ss o n de sc r ibin g , fro m ap s y ch o lo g ica lp e rs p e c t i ve th e pe rc e ptio n sa nd v ie w p o in tso fl e ad e rs in the c o m m un i ty re ga rdin g the p re s en tw ay s inw h i c h th e g am in g indu s t ry a f fe c te d fa m i ly l i fe an d th ep s y c ho lo g ic a l w e l l - b e in g o f the pe o p l e o f M ac ao . The reis fo r e x a m p le a te n d e nc y am o n g st y o un g p e o p le to fo r -fe it fur th e ring th e ir e d uc a t io n , b o th s c ho o l an d te r t i a r ye d uc a tio n , be c au se o f luc ra t i v e jo b o pp o r tu n i t ie s in c a s i -n o s, w h ile p are nts w h o w o rk in the in dus t ry ty p ic a ll y hav eo n g o in g c han g in g w o rk sh iftsc h e du le s th atea s i l y d isru pt

the ir fa m i ly l ife .

7

N o . 6 4 M A R C H - A P R I L 2 0 0 6

25. Citing the President and Chief Operating Officer of the Las V egas Sands (LVS) inter-viewed by Paulo Azevedo and Jos Ho in We Became More Bullish About theInvestment,Macau Busi ness , December 2005, pp. 10-15.

26. Duffy & W ong, op. cit.; Fred M. C o x , John L. Erlich, Jack Rothman and John E. Tropman(eds.), Tactics and Techniques of Community Practice, Itasca, Illinois, FE PeacockPublishers, 1984. Norman Denzin and Yvonna Lincoln also wrote on different methods

used in qualitative research in their H an db oo k of Qu ali ta tive Research, L o n do n , Sage,1999.

27. Steiner Kvale, Int erviews:An in troduction to q ualitative research interviewing. L o n do n ,Sage Publications, 1996.

28. W e wish to thank our research assistant, Ms JenniferWilkinson, for the hours she spenttranscribing and translating the audio recordings of the interviews we conducted for thisproject.

29. McGoldrick, Gerson & Shellenberger, op. cit.

1. Enabling and disabling processesof the gaming industry


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The Impact of M acao s Gaming Industr y on Family Life

Discussion

Perceptions regarding the impact of thegaming industry on family functioning

O verall , a t radit ional Macao approach to lif e that valueda stable, easy -going lifes ty le and taking things as the y werew ithout e xer t ing much effo rt to wards chang e w ere observ e d.As one in ter viewee indicated, I heard my colleague saythat Macao people can ver y easi ly be satisf ied with w h a tthe y ha ve, but I feel that the newer g eneration has theirambit ion and that ambit ion may be to ge t q ui c k m o n ey[01/01]((30). Such an aim for harmonious l iving canno t befaulted in i t self and i t combines w ell with the traditionalChinese values of col lectivism and m oral qualities of lo yaltyand f ai thfulness. Pas t g enerat ions have emphasised r en (,humann ess) and yi (, r ighteousness) , good educat ion andrespect for life as central to the moral educat ion of they oung. Through engagement with the gaming indus try, h ow -ev er, the younger generation have been encourag e d tobecome in v o lved in hedonistic behaviour patterns and adr iv e to war ds individualis t needs and mater ia l ism. I t seemsthat the har monious co-exi stence of the past has mutat ed

in to a dependency on e xternal fo rces and a need fo r w ealththat has o vershadow ed good education and respect f or lif eand im pacte d o n the psyc ho-social w ell-being of the localpopulation (Local people become dependent on incomefro m to ur ism and gambling and do not develop other indus -tr ies. The gaming indus try pr ovi d es easy m o ney ; there is nom o ti v a t ion t o work fo r their ow n w ell-beingenhance theirco m p etences and mo ti v at ion to l o o k b e yo nd so f t moneythat comes easi ly [05/09]).The rap idg row thinthe e cono myo verthe pastfive yearsandthe incre aseincasino licenceshave resultedinad istincte sc a-latio n in em ploy me nt oppo rtun itie s m o stly in th e gam ing

indus try, to uris m indu stry an d construction. M any pe o plewere ab le to find jobsin M acao e ith erascro upiersin th ecasi-no so r in sub s idiar y se cto rso f th e ind ustry inc lud ing profes -s io na l serv ices (e .g., bo o k kee p ing), re tail and se rv ice s (e .g .,c lea n ing , caterin g), and construction . A s our intervieweespo intedout, theeco no m y wasrathe rslow in M acao bu tno withasin crea se d [and] w ith the o pe n ing up o fC hina, we no wg e tto urscom in g into M acao , mak ing M acao very s tron g in itseco no m y i n c re asein pe op le s daily l iv ing standards [01/01]andthe cas ino salso have apo sitiveface w he re itp ro v ide sag oo d inc o m e for th e lo cals now [02/07]. R ece nt figuresshowedth atalm o st58% o fth e lo calpo pulat io nwo rked in thegam in g indu stry an dth atth ere w illbe an incre ase in th e co m -

in g years w he n mo re cas ino s o pen in the territo ry. Theincre ase in reve nue ga ined fro m gam b lin g taxe s has m ade itpo ss ib le forthe Leg is latorto continu egranting mo resub sidie sto so c ialserv icesand fam ilie s in generalbe ne fitin g fro m thebo o m in th egam ingind ustry.R ecently itwasalso announcedthatedu cat io n fo rallchildre nwouldbe fre e o fcharge up toco mpletion o fs econdarysc ho o l((31).The av ailability o f w o rk o p p o rtunit ies has in part icular boo st-ed m i g rat ion of people from the mainland to Macao, andlegal immig rants job seekers from mainland China be tw ee nthe ages of 20 and 60 was up from 1,583 in 2002 to 4,387by the end of 2004 ((32). Legal immigrants and people autho -rised to p e rmanently reside in Macao contr ibuted to a r is eo f 7.27 % d u ring the same per iod from 2002 to the end of2004 ((33). A concern w as, how ev er, uttere d by the inter vi e -wees in our project. The availability o f w o rk o p p o rtunities inMacao, either in the cas inos o r e l sewhere, often im pliedseparation from f ami ly m e m b e rs when one par tner mo ved tothe SAR whi le the res t of the family s till resided on themainland. There ar e some cases where the husband tr ie sto a sk the government to hav e his wif e sent dow n to M acaofro m the mainland, but because the y cannot wait f o r thel o ng p eri od o f t ime, so by the time th e wi f e ge ts here, the

husband will already have a n e w w i f e [01/02].A lt hough separat ion from the family canno t be attr ibutedo nl y to the gaming indus try, t he development s and av ailable

jo b o pp o rtunities in subsidiary indus tr ies such as cons tr uc -tion due to the need fo r m o re ho tels and renov ations couldbe interpr e ted as an indirect role that the industr y played indisrup ting the family life of th o se wh o m i g rated to the te rr i -to ry. When the family then reunited after a per i od o f sepa -ration, relationship problems of ten ensued that made livingto ge ther again s t ressful . The inf lux of em pl oy able w o rkersand preference give n to young adults to w o rk in casinos, f o rex am ple, have also resulted in a change in the re ti re m e n t

ag e, putting middle-aged adults in dang er of strug g ling tofind suitable em pl o yment in o rder to p ro vide fo r their fam i -lies (01/03).Wit h reg ard to the family as funct ional unit , the wo rkinghours of employees in the gaming indus tr y w as po inted outby the interviewees in our project as a majo r co nc er n .

8

M A R C H - A P R I L 2 0 0 6 N o . 6 4

30. Throughout the discussion section we will refer to the comments and contributions ofkey informants who participated in this first part of the study in italics. W e do not use

the informants names so as to protect their identity and a special code will indicated

tha t the comments w ere made by different participants in this exploratory study.

31. M ac au Po st Da ily , November 21st, 2005.

32. D S E C , 2005.

33. Macau Post Daily, November 21st, 2005.


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S o c i e t y

Casinos in M acao operate 24 hours a day so w o rking in acasino of ten means irregular time shifts of casinos, dividingwo rking shifts into ear ly and night shif ts. When peo ple haveto go to w o rk the y w il l have to leav e their children at home.This is a pro b lem wh i ch leads to psychological problems[01/03]. A ke y inf o rmant from the social service providersindicated that this was especial ly the case when bo thparents w ork in the casino, and the children does no t ge t achance to b e w i th them, and the refore the y ar e br inging upthemsel ves on their own [01/01].Two issues are relevant in this reg ard. Although no t uniqueto the gaming indus tr y (e.g., nurses, paramedics, and o the rse rvice providers a lso w o rk night shifts), the impact of ir re -gular w o rking hours and night shif t s on the one hand influ -enced role appro pr iation and on the o ther jeopardisedfamily relat ionships. In a soc iety wh ere tradit ional male andfemale roles were st i l l dominant and g ender stereo types of the fat her as breadwinner and discipl inarian and the mo th -er as taking care o f nur tu ring needs s till str ictly adhere d to ,t he ongo ing c hanging w o rk shift schedules could easi ly dis -rupt family life ((34). R ole reve rsal c hallenged personal and cul -tu ral beliefs, while the absence of a role in the family (e.g.,fat her/mo t her working night shifts, f emale s ingle parent fam -

il y) could e xacerbate r isk behaviours (parent s who have n ocontrol or poor discipl ine, mo stly lo w educat ion and unnatu -ral w o rking hours (w o rking in f ac to r ies , casinos, elsewhere ),were the majo r pro b lem s enco u ntered in M acao [08/14]).Fr om a psychological point of view , having and spendingt i m e wi th one ano ther is one of the basic premises f or es ta -blishing attac hment relat ionships be tw een family m e m b e rsand f or parents to engag e in the moral and cultural educa -t ion of their c hildren.

Perceptions regarding the impact of thegaming industry on family relationships

P ro blem ati c fam ily re latio ns hips and em o tio nal pr o blem swere am o ng the pr o m ine nt iss ue sthat so c ialwo rkersa ttend -e dto du ring the firstsixmonth so f2 005w ithabout38% o fcase s th at de alt spe c ifically w ith o ne o r m o re d isrup tedfam ily re latio nsh ip s . The figuresare no tc le arasto th e num -be ro fcase sdirectly relatedto th eg am ing indu stry,bu t it isnotun likely g ive nthatthe indu stry plays sucham ajo rro le inthe ma terialandpsycho - soc ia lfun ction in g o fM acao fam ilies.Dur ingo urfieldw o rk itwasm e ntio ned tha t,particularly w ithregardto fam i lie sw he reo ne orbothpare n tswo rke din casi -no s,a lo to fth e irre lat io nshi psare allme ss ed up an d theycanno t reso lve this situatio n . The childre n o f the se peo p le

w i llbe g reatly a ffec te d[and]now thereare also fam i lie sw holockthe ire l derly up at ho me [01/02]. A lthoug hth e e x ac tre aso nsfo rloc k ingup ane lde rly pa re ntwereno tm ent ione d,it w as disc o nce rting to know that the exte nde d fam ily wasindirectly a f fecte dbyd isruptio ns in the fam ily and pr o bablyby inv o lve m ent in gam bl in g relate dac tiv itie s. However, thisne e dsfurthe re xplo ratio n in the fo llow -up to th isrepo rt. Wi tho u t suffic ie nt tim e and co n tinuo us in te rac tio n torespond to one ano the rs needs family relationships w er epar ticularly at r is k((35). The perceived absence of parents aspr imary educators and social isation agents of c hildren, livingin a soc iety dominate d by gambling and of te n e xperiencingthe over-c ro wdedness that accompanies an inf lux of to ur is tsto the terr ito ry , contributed much to the disrup t ing of f amilyrelat ionships and the ps yc ho-social development of individu -als. Whereas people appreciated the economic gains fromthe industry , families tended to avoid soc ial areas where the ycould spend t ime to ge ther and interact with peers andfr iends because these places w er e also freq uente d by theto ur is t s wi th w h o m the y d id no t w ant to connect on a so c ia lle vel. As the direc tor of one of the majo r so c ia l ser vicepr o viders in Macao ind ica ted, local people accept thattouri sm i s go o d f or th e e c o n o m y and open their minds to

o ther lifes ty les, but the educat ion level of to ur is ts is lowresulting in an avers ion by the local populat ion to the inf luxo f these people to the terr ito ry [05/09].O ther relationship problems that were ment io ned during ourfieldw o rk inc lud e d fam ily v io le nce (d o m estic v io le nc eaf fects the wo m a ns co re self-es tee m [02/05]) and mar italconf lict (a lo t of ext ra marital relat ionships can lead to v io -lence and af fairs are also the cause o f many family break -u ps , ha v in g g re at e f fe c t o n th e c h il d re n [01 / 0 2 ] ) .A lt hough f amily violence and abuse agains t w o m en co u ldno tpe r s e be attributed to the gaming indus try (o ther fac to rsm o st definitel y also played a ro le). There w as the sugges t ion

by several interview ees that the emo t ional and relationshippr oblems usually ensued f r om one or more members wo rk -ing in the gaming and subsidiary indus tr ies. Family m e m b e rspa r ticipating, for ex am ple, in the sex indus tr y for addit ionalincome contributed its o wn set of problems in relationshipsand one inte rview e e c o m m e n ted that she has found a lo t o ffemalesno t the mal es w ho are actually the causes of f am -ily pr obl e ms having an af fair especially in the central

9

N o . 6 4 M A R C H - A P R I L 2 0 0 6

34. See Sing Lau (ed.) in Gr owing up the Chinese Way: Chinese Child and Adolescent

Devel opm ent, H o n g Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1996.

35. Connard, op cit., and Goldenberg and Goldenberg, op cit., expand on the importance oftime and space for forming quality relationships in the family.


10/12

areas [01/03]. Most dis tressing to m ost of our interview ee sw as, how ev er, the p rospective impact o f d i s rup te d familyli fe, whether directly or ind i rectly related to the gamingindus t ry or no t , on parent-child relat ionships and child care .

Perceptions regardingtheimpactof thegamingindustryon childcareinthefamily

Pare nts, particularly tho se wo rk ingin the gam ing andrelatedindustries , o ften all owe d childre n to g o unsup erv ised o r

engaged so c ial se rv ice s to care fo r th e ir children, disp lac ingth e re s ponsib il ity o f ch ild care and parental e ducatio n toso urce so utsideth e fam ily.A n info rm an two rking spe c ificallyw ithchildre nin av erypoorareain th eno rtho fM acao in d i-catedthatthey were o ften co nfro ntedw ith case swhe re bothth e k idspare ntshave to wo rk th e n ig ht -shift and recall e dacasew he re the pare nt shave asked if the centre could lo o kafterth e irch ildforthe m we wo uldne edto se tup ashe lterfo r the se peo ple the ir inco m e doe s no t pe rm it the m toem ploy so me one to lo o k afte rth e child. In mo stcases60% o fthe m co me fro m single parent fam ilie s [06/10].So me pa r-e nt se n gage dthe exte nd edfam ily inchi ldcare(g randparentstakecare o fth ech ildbutthey haveno realpo we rto d isc ip l ine

th echi ld[08/13]),w he re aso therssen tth e irchildren to thema in landto stay w ith th efam ilytherefo rextendedperio dso ftim e , almo stlo s in g contactw ith the childe nt irely.Lack of paren tal guidance or a sound parent-c hild relation -ship has been indicate d to be a majo r cau se o f pr oblematicchild behaviours. Psycho- e mo t ional disturbances amongchildre n o f ten emerg ed fro m feel ings of reject ion, neg lectand lead to a lac k of self-es teem and a decline in children sacademic perfo rm a nce ((36). In Macao the situation w as e x ac -erbate d by early e xposure to gambl ing-related and subsidiary

activities such as pro stitution. Our respondent working main -ly with s ing le-parent famil ies in the nor th of Macao, whentalking about the inf luence o f the gaming industr y o n c hi l-dren, indicated that to y s such as miniature slo t machines andplaying cards w ere easi ly accessible and had as their aimfor these children to become addic te d to them. For e xam -ple, there ar e also toy cards that the y can t rade fo r m o n ey.These toy cards hav e also created pro b lem s wh ere children

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M A R C H - A P R I L 2 0 0 6 N o . 6 4

36. See Harry Gardiner and Carol Kosmitzki, Lives across cultures: cross-cultural human

development, Singapore, Pearson Education, 2005, and Barbara and Philip Newman,

Development through life: a psychosocial approach, Singapore, Thomson W adsworthPublishers, 2003.

W ellpaid jobsattract youngpeopletothe gam ingindustr y


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S o c i e t y

ha ve caused f ights because the y t ry to steal these valuablecards [06/10]. On e direct and ver y worrying consequenceo f the gaming indus try is juvenile delinquency that has beengradually increasing as Lo Shiu Hing po inted out in his arti -cle on gambling and org anised crim e ((37).A M acao - base dg ang ster, c ite dbyLo ShiuHin g , e stim atedtha tupto 80 % o fthe yo uth inM acao have contrac to rcon -nectio nsw ith triad sbe cause they are fo rce d to accept tr iadpro te ction. For Lo , tha t w as due to th e rap id increa se inM acao spo pu la tio n since new lyarr ived paren tshad to con -centrate the irtim e ande ne rg yin p ro v id in g fo rth e irfam iliesand therefo re negl ected th e children ((38). In the fi rst n inem o nthso f2005, 114crim ina lcase sin vo lv in g 218 ado lesc e ntswere han dled in M acao ((39) an d the Statistics and C e nsusSer v icese s tim ate dth attherew asa7.6% incre ase to 2 5.3%co mpare dto the prev io usyear((40).I n ab luepr intstud ybytheSo c ial Welfare I nstitute , it w as also indicate d th at 30% o fado le sc ents in M acao have at o ne tim e o r anothe r bee nengage din ste al in g , fig htin g orda m ag ing pu b l icpro per ty ((41).D urin g o urfieldw o rk ,w ewere to ld by aschoo ldirecto rthathe hadto de alw it hatr iadiss ue w ith inthe very pre m ise s o fth e sch oo ljust pr io r to hi s inter v ie w w ith us . M ino rs werealso frequen tam on g co urtca se shan dle dbyth e le ga lsystem ,

andado le scentsan dchildrenare se e n in cour t be cause o fshoplifting , ste aling (fo rce de nt ry in res ide ntial are as), fight -in g inpu b licplace s fam ilyback groundandfrie nds are thecau se fo rm an y prob lem sam o ng ad o le sc e n ts (08/13).Anti-social and gang-related behaviours are no t u nco m m o namong adolescent s who are in the process of identi ty f o r -mation, particularly w h e n the y have to dea l wi th p roblema-t ic parent-child relat ionships, do n o t receive adequa te m o raleducat ion from their parents (the school has to tak e ove rbasic education fro m the family t he school becomes a sub -stitute fo r the family [03/07]), and are fa ced wi th neg ativelabelling in society ((42). Although del inquent and g ang behav -

iour of adolescents co uld again no t be seen as a mere direc tco nsequence o f the boom in the gaming indus try and paren tabsence because o f em pl o yment in the indus tr y, it seemedthat young people were more at r isk for engaging in unac -cep table behaviours and that the gaming industr y has to ane xtent agg ra v ated the si tuat ion in recent y ear s.

Perceptions of the impact of the gamingindustry on psycho-social issuesin the family

The g roups m o stly targ e ted fo rjo bs in the gam in g industrywere the ado lesc ent s and y o un g adu lts, pe o p le who have

reac he dthe ag e o f18yearsan dw ho co uld le gally e ngage ine co nom ic ac tiv ity. A s o ne interviewe e m en tione d, c as ino shave be e nable to attractalo to fteenagers to wo rk for them [01/02] .How ever, man yo fthe seyo un g peop le fo rfeite dfur -the redu ca tion an dwere attractedby lucrativesalar iestakeno ut o fsc ho o lto g o wo rk incasinosw he re they can earn up to10,00 0pa tacaspe rmonth sometim e shig he rth anag raduatecan e arn [08/13]. Es tim ate s o f ex actly how m any yo ungpe op le rejec te dfurthe redu cat io nin fav ou ro fso - call ede asym o ney an dfinanc ialindep e nd e nce that flowedfro m wo rkingin the gam ing industrywere no tavailable an dwe co ns ide redth isasparticularlyanare a fo rfurth e rinves tigatio n. Wh ereasthe e mploy m e nt o ppo rtun itie s the industry o ffers weree na bl in g in am ajorsensean dy oun g pe o p le co uld,asrequiredby th e trad itio n o f fi lial pie ty, no w be tter take care o f th eirpare nt s,disablin g pro ce ss e swere also atwo rk.The easily accessible and lucrative empl o yment av ailable incas inos and the lack o f m o ti v at ion to pursue educat ionalgoals put young people a t risk. They em phasise an immedi -ate and shor t- term success and o f fer a g ratificat ion thatto ge ther im pede on a sense of direc tedness and purpose inli fe and the o ver all psyc hological well-being of people inMacao. Vocational interes t is a product of posi t ive family

relationships, but the envi ronment also play s a role in guid-

ing young people to w ards a positive life or ientat ion((43). Oneof our k ey inf o rmants in particular pointed out that lack o fm o t iv at io n fo r sc h o o l ac hieve m e nt le ads to dr o p-o uts[03/07], and it seemed that the wealth and prosperit ybr ought about by the lure fac tor of easy money a ndre c ru i tin g c h i ld re n aw ay fro m th e e duc ati o n sy ste m [03/07] affec ted family life in par t icular and had a g reatim pact on people s w ay of thinking and their mental devel -opment [01/02]. Fur the rm o re , the p rospect s o f em pl oy -ment in the industry did no t br ing w ealth and prosperity to

11

N o . 6 4 M A R C H - A P R I L 2 0 0 6

37. L o Shiu Hing, Towards the End of the Stanley Ho Connection? China Perspectives,Macau Special, op. cit. pp. 56-65.

38. Ibi d., p. 59.

39. A s repo rted in M acau D ai ly, h t t p : / / w w w. m a c a u . c t m . n e t / m o d a i l y l o g / 2 0 0 5 1 1 1 0 /index.htm.

40. DSEC, 2005.

41. Youth Problems and Youth Services in Macau SAR: A blueprint for the new millennium,

published by the Social W elfare Institute, 2005, and Wu Zhil iang,A juven tude e o fu turode Macau, Qingnian yu Aomen weilai, The Youth and the Future of Macau , Fundao

Macau, 1994.

42. Gardiner and Kosmitzki, op. cit.; Barbara and Philip Newman, op. cit.

43. See Ryff, op. cit.; Lea Pulkkinen and Anna Ronka, Personal control over development,identity formation, and future orienta tion, inDevelopmenta l Psy cholo gy, V o l. 30, 1994,

pp . 260-271; and Oi-Ling Siu, Occupational stressors and well-being among ChineseEmployees in Applied Psy chology, V o l. 51(4), 2002, pp. 527-544


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The Impact of M acao s Gaming Industr y on Family Life

all the people o f Macao. Man y local f ami l ies , who had beenin Macao f o r several generations, w ere suffering f ro m a nincrease in po ver ty wi th real esta te p r ices escalating rapidly,and the high pr i ce o f consumables . I t seemed that the rewere increasing num bers of famil ies that could no t maintai na good standard of l iving. This trend was em phas i sed by theSocial Welfare Department report ing that 7,732 familiesapplied for and received financial aid in the first half of2005. Physical needs are among the most bas ic needs fo rps ychological w ell-being because without suffic ient gratific a-t ion of phy sical and secur i ty needs, the individual could havedi fficulty focusing his or her psy chological energy on belong -ingness and real isation of po tentialities((44). It seemed the re -fo re that the gaming and related industr ies have their advan -tag es and drawbacks . Macao f amil ies benef it perhaps fromthe job oppor tunit ies and increased salar ies the industryo ffers, but at the same time the y experience problematicfamily relat ionships and their o verall psychological w e l l -being is thus put at s tak e. Those who are n o t w o rking fo r thegaming and related industries experience f inancial hardshipdue to the increase of the cost of living since the boom thre ey e ars ago, and this new lacki ng o f resources br i ngs u p o nt hem new psyc hological stresses.

The gaming indus try does indeed have an impact on f amilyli fe . On the one hand, the industry has boos ted economicg ro w th in the enclave and mater ial prosperi ty f or the localresidents. On the o ther, how ev er, it also eng enders sever aldisabling and disrup ti v e p rocesses that have par ticularlyaffecte d the psychological w ell-being of individuals and fam -i l ies in Macao.R eflect ing on Macao within t he perspective of the broaderChina, it was a l so odd to see ho w the one-countr y-t w o sy s -tem s m o d el w o rked in this specif ic case. Macao had beendeveloping the gaming industry wi th the blessing not only o f

the SA R g o vernment but also of the highes t autho ri t ies inBei j ing, while those ver y same authori t ies hav e been cam-paigning since 2004 to crac k do wn o n gambling ((45). InJanuary 2005, President Hu Jintao rei te rat ed the need fo rChinas yo ut h to be equally ideologically and ethically edu -cate d((46). Well , i t seemed that under the one count ry, twosy ste m s the yo ut h of Macao did no t enjoy the same treat-ment as the yo uth in the mainland((4 7).M aybe th e m o st significant gap in our searc h for under -s tanding w as the lac k of m eaningful baseline research and inp ar ticular the lack o f public data pertaining to , fo r e x ample,shift work , t he aver ag e ag e of empl oy ees in casinos, relationsbe tw een wag es and age, and info rmation about subsidiary

trades such as pro stitution, drug peddling and t riads. We hadto rel y on the percep t ions of our ke y informant s and a f ewpublic data bases (e.g., DSEC). Therefo re , this initialexploration could by no m eans be cons idered comprehensiv eor adequa tel y rev eal ing of the e xtent and com pl exi ty of f ac -to rs inf luencing the psy chological w ell-being of the localcomm uni ty in M acao .Psyc ho log ical inter ventions an d m e nt al he a lth care are no tcom m on p ractice s in C hine se com m unitie s, and m uc h s ti l lnee dsto b edone to de ve lo pan un de rsta ndin g andap prec ia-tio n am o n g th epe o p leo fM acao fo rsuch se rv ice s. The nextste po fth is researchproje c tw ill b eto inv es tigateth epe rc ep -tio ns and a ttitud e s o f th e lo cal re side nt s at g rassro o ts le v el,the pe op le ac tuall ywo rk in g in the gam in g and related indus -trie s,an did entifyth e irparticularne e dsw h ere psy cho lo gicalserv ice sare con ce rne d. It wo u ldbe he lp ful to inc lud e o therpart ic ipan ts fro m th e vario us se cto rs, also th e g o vernm entan dthe gam ing indu stry,in furthe rinv estigat io nsin to the wayin w hich psy ch o lo g y can be im plem ented in this so c ie ty toenhance th epsy cho lo g icalwe ll - be in g o fth e peo p le. We ho peto explo re , fo r e xam p le , the ide ntity change s that haveo ccurre d am o ng indiv idua lsand th e com m un ity a sa w ho lesince th e re ce n t bo o m in th e gam in g ind ustry and the

handove ro f M acao to the PRC. Furtherm o re , we hope todeve lo p , th ro ug ho n g o ing researchan dac tiv ity,th e ne ce ss ar yfram ew o rk s fo r pro v id in g psy cho lo g ical in terve ntio ns thatcou lde mpowe rthe pe o p leo fM acao andpro v id eth e m w ithcop ing strate g ies to de a l w ith th e in flue nce s o f th e gam ingindus try on the irind iv idu a landco lle ctive live s.C o m parativestud ie san d loo k inga to the rde ve lo p in g countrie sdo m ina tedby asing le indu stry wou lda lso be relevant. The g o vernm enthaslately pu tsom e pr oje ctsin place to e ncou rage the imple -m entatio n o fpsy cho lo g icalse rv ice s, bu tfurthe rresearchw illpro v ide insig ht s into e sta bl ish ing th e ne ce ss ar y fram ew o rkan d infras tructure th at can address the fe lt an d an tic ipated

nee dsin the co m mun ity fo rsuchse rv ice s.

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44. See for example, M a s l o w s hierarchy of needs and the potential impact of unsa tisfiedd e f i c i e n c y needs in George Bo erees summary o f Abraham Maslow,http://www.ship.edu/~cgboree/maslo w.html.

45. China launches nationwide campaign against gambling, P eoples Daily Online, last

u p d ated o n January 12th 2 0 0 5 , h t t p : / / e n g l i s h . p e o p l e . c o m . c n / 2 0 0 5 0 1 / 1 2 / e n g20050112_170335.html.

46. Chinese president urges ethical, ideological education for youth, P eoples Daily Online ,

last upd ated o n January 19t h 2 0 0 5 , h t t p : / / e n g l i s h . p e o p l e . c o m . c n / 2 0 0 5 0 1 / 1 8 /eng20050118_171045.html.

47. For further development on politics and ethics, see Emilie Tran, Elite Politics and Ethics

in China: R esolving N on-A ntagon isti c C o ntradictions?, Ch ines

e Cross

Currents

,Success and V alues, V ol . 2, No . 2, A pril-June 2005, pp. 50-69.
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Impact of Gaming Industry on Family Life A Exploratory Study