Macau’s long-standing reliance on its gaming industry remains a significant challenge to achieving economic diversification, admits chief Executive Sam Hou Fai.
During the first plenary session of the 2025 Economic Development Commission on Wednesday, February 19, Fai acknowledged that the structural issue of a gaming-dominated economy is unlikely to change fundamentally in the near future.
Despite efforts to promote diversification, Macau’s local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) still face common challenges, while initiatives such as the development of Hengqin through Guangdong-Macau cooperation have yet to yield the desired economic transformation.
In a candid statement, Fai emphasised the difficulty of changing Macau’s economic structure, noting that the path to diversification is far from smooth.
“The issue of Macau’s overdependence on the gaming industry is a structural problem that will be difficult to solve in the foreseeable future,” he said.
Source: Asia Gaming Brief
