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China

How The World's Gambling Mecca Shares The Wealth With Locals

MACAU DAILY TIMES (Macau), CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY (Taiwan)

Worldcrunch

MACAU – Not far from Hong Kong, a small island off the coast of southern China attracts 28 million visitors a year. The tourists, hailing mostly from Mainland China, come here to gamble. It is the only place in China where gambling is legal, and with its three dozen casinos, it is also the world’s betting capital.

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Macau. Photo ASDFGHJ

Every year, Macau’s government offers the island’s residents a share in the gambling revenue – by way of a cash handout, says to the Macau Daily Times.

This year, the Chief Executive of Macau, Fernando Chui Sai On, has once again announced that each resident would be receiving a cash handout of 8,000 Macau Pataca ($1,000). Non-permanent residents will receive 4800 Macau Pataca ($600). Macau has a resident population of about 500,000 people.

For residents, an additional 6000 Macau Pataca ($750) will be deposited in each person’s retirement fund. They will also receive medical vouchers of 600 Macau Pataca ($75) and income tax will be reduced by as much as 30%,

A former Portugal colony, Macau’s economy has always relied on gambling tourism. But with the support of the Chinese government, the long-established gaming industry monopolies were broken thanks to liberalization after Macau was transferred back to China in 1999. The introduction of foreign casino operators has contributed to the large increase in the government’s gambling revenue.

Prior to the transfer of sovereignty, Macau’s annual gambling revenue was only 17.7 billion Macau Pataca ($200 million), whereas the revenue generated by the gambling industry now ranks number one in the world with 269.1 billion Macau Pataca ($33.7 billion) in 2011, more than five times the amount on the Las Vegas strip.

According to Central News Agency, between January and April this year, the gambling industry’s revenue as well as the government’s gambling tax revenue increased by 25.5% and 26.3% respectively in comparison with the same period last year.

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Economy

Lex Tusk? How Poland’s Controversial "Russian Influence" Law Will Subvert Democracy

The new “lex Tusk” includes language about companies and their management. But is this likely to be a fair investigation into breaking sanctions on Russia, or a political witch-hunt in the business sphere?

Photo of President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda

Polish President Andrzej Duda

Piotr Miaczynski, Leszek Kostrzewski

-Analysis-

WARSAW — Poland’s new Commission for investigating Russian influence, which President Andrzej Duda signed into law on Monday, will be able to summon representatives of any company for inquiry. It has sparked a major controversy in Polish politics, as political opponents of the government warn that the Commission has been given near absolute power to investigate and punish any citizen, business or organization.

And opposition politicians are expected to be high on the list of would-be suspects, starting with Donald Tusk, who is challenging the ruling PiS government to return to the presidency next fall. For that reason, it has been sardonically dubbed: Lex Tusk.

University of Warsaw law professor Michal Romanowski notes that the interests of any firm can be considered favorable to Russia. “These are instruments which the likes of Putin and Orban would not be ashamed of," Romanowski said.

The law on the Commission for examining Russian influences has "atomic" prerogatives sewn into it. Nine members of the Commission with the rank of secretary of state will be able to summon virtually anyone, with the powers of severe punishment.

Under the new law, these Commissioners will become arbiters of nearly absolute power, and will be able to use the resources of nearly any organ of the state, including the secret services, in order to demand access to every available document. They will be able to prosecute people for acts which were not prohibited at the time they were committed.

Their prerogatives are broader than that of the President or the Prime Minister, wider than those of any court. And there is virtually no oversight over their actions.

Nobody can feel safe. This includes companies, their management, lawyers, journalists, and trade unionists.

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