Another change of mind --- It's never ending.

The Aquis project is becoming a big joke with another change this time the licence application.
It's like "Eeni meni minee mo which casino licence do I forgo".
As reported in the Cairns post on Wednesday 23 April, 2014 The member for Cairns stated that the State Government had written to the Aquis Mega Resort to "persuade" them to formally apply for a casino licence.
For some unknown reason Mr Fung had pulled out of the intergrated resort development application process to negotiate using the Reef Hotel Casino licence to cover the Yorkeys Knob site, so the Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney wrote to them asking them to continue with the formal resort submission.
It is hard to believe that after the purchase of the Reef Hotel Casino that anyone would want to build another casino on flood plains at Yorkeys Knob, Oh sorry I correct myself the latest design shows TWO casinos at Yorkeys Knob, one has to ask "what are they thinking".

Latest design showing two casinos.

Our population is around 160,000 and the Reef Casino has shown not to be that profitable and you only have to google the web to see that the chinese are going to places like Hawaii.
Cairns really needs to get a handle on the costs for accomodation, sight seeing tours and food and until that is resolved with cheaper costs then the visitors arriving will keep on declining.
Also where is the EIS report that was going to be available before Christmas 2013 then put back till early January 2014 and then early April 2014, well at the time of writing this the date is the 26 April, 2014, there is something strange with this whole saga.
People are waiting on this report and if it doesn't surface soon then people will start yelling from the tree tops.
Just as an after thought the last cyclone (Ita) to pass by Cairns dropped a lot of water but not as much as we usually get and the area for the Aquis Resort was under water, see pictures below.
The road out of Yorkeys was cut off on Dunne Road, Yorkeys Road which by the way was upgraded by the previous council to prevent flooding but alas the road was covered in water.
The Captain Cook Highway was cut off between Yorkeys Knob roundabout and Machans Beach roundabout so it would be very interesting to see how the developers will overcome this problem.
It won't stop the flooding it just means that the water will be pushed out over a wider area.
Also people who think that this project will bring hundreds of jobs read the article (Wednesday April 16, 2014) below where it states that  "China is demanding it be allowed to import Chinese workers into Australia to work on projects funded by Chinese investors under a proposed free trade agreement, sparking concerns within the Abbott government of a backlash, according to reports". 
The state government should offer the land where the CEP was going to be built as this would allow the visitors to walk and visit the businesses in Cairns as this would compliment Cairns.

Below are the photos of the area where Aquis maybe built:

Access entrance of the farm land

Slightly to right of the top photo

Looking towards the farm house

Opposite to the access entrance

Should this project go ahead where will all this water go?

It had to come but we didn't know when.... Free Trade Agreement: China wants to send workers into Australia

14 April, 2014
As reported in SMH.

Peoples concern over the 1400  "orignal workers unit" which has now turned into 1800 in the last design can say "we thought so" now you want to bring in your own workers.
We hope that the Prime Minister sends a very strong message that our workers come FIRST.

Read on:

China is demanding it be allowed to import Chinese workers into Australia to work on projects funded by Chinese investors under a proposed free trade agreement, sparking concerns within the Abbott government of a backlash, according to reports.
An Australian Financial Review report says that the government is resisting the move and is seeking a way around the issue by targetting 457 visas towards projects that the Chinese want to build that require skills that cannot be obtained in Australia as it pushes to land a free trade deal with China at the Group of 20 meeting in November.
Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the G20 meeting and it is believed that imported labour and investment remain the two obstacles in signing off on a deal.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has already changed his previous opposition to Chinese state-owned businesses investing in Australia and signalled he would offer these enterprises special treatment by removing or changing the requirement that all investments have to be approved by the Foreign Investment Review Board.
A senior rural Coalition MP, who wished to remain anonymous, said the prospect of investment by Chinese state-owned enterprises could create concern among rural Coalition MPs. But Queensland Nationals MP Bruce Scott said the plan should be welcomed as investment was needed to boost jobs and the economy.
China will be offered the same conditions as South Korea and Japan, which will lift the FIRB threshold from $248 million to $1 billion for investment by a private company. As most Chinese companies are state-owned, Mr Abbott began prosecuting the case in Shanghai last week to allow SOE's to invest in Australia.

The government wants Chinese money, especially to develop new agricultural projects and build new infrastructure in the nation’s north.
A source said the Chinese were ''pushing pretty hard'' to allow them to bring in their own workers to build and, in some cases, operate such projects, especially in regional areas.
The government, keen not to cruel the FTA, is looking at other ways of appeasing the Chinese.
The 457 visa system is being reviewed by the government and one option would be to offer the ­Chinese 457 visas for specific projects, should the skills and labour not be available domestically.

AQUIS CASINO BID PROBE

16 April, 2014
As reported in The Cairns Post

THE Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is examining the pending $269 million takeover of the Reef Hotel Casino in Cairns by the Aquis Group. The ACCC is considering whether the proposal will reduce competition in the marketplace.

Aquis is behind the proposed $8.15 billion mega-resort at Yorkeys Knob which includes two casinos and eight hotels.
As part of his strategy, Hong Kong billionaire Tony Fung has bid for the Cairns casino and its licence and is negotiating with the Queensland Government to split the licence to cover both the CBD site as well as the Northern Beaches property.
As well he has applied for one of two regional integrated resort developments and their gaming licences which the State Government is offering.
The Reef Hotel Casino has 38 gaming tables, 519 gaming machines, a VIP gaming room, a TAB and Keno. The Aquis Group is seeking approval for 750 gaming tables and 1500 electronic gaming machines.
An ACCC spokeswoman said the review was not unusual but would not be drawn on whether it had been requested by parties involved.
An Aquis spokesman said it was a standard investigation of the transaction.

“Aquis does not anticipate any issues that will affect the acquisition of Reef Casino Trust,’’ he said.
The ACCC’s merger investigations branch acting general manager Tom Leuner said the authority was considering the proposed acquisition under section 50 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (the Act).
“Section 50 of the Act prohibits mergers and acquisitions that substantially lessen competition in a market, or are likely to do so,’’ he said.
Notice of the review is on the ACCC website and in a letter Mr Leuner said: “The ACCC is seeking comments from market participants and interested parties to assist with its review of the proposed acquisition and would welcome any comments you have in relation to the competitive effects of the proposed acquisition.’’
The ACCC is asking for submissions and answers to 10 questions including the likelihood of the Aquis Resort being developed and whether “your view might change depending on whether or not Aquis acquired the Reef Casino’’, and competition between the Reef Casino and other forms of gambling in Cairns and other casinos. Other questions include: “If the proposed acquisition does not proceed, to what extent is the Aquis Resort likely to compete with the Reef Casino and other casinos in Queensland, Australia and overseas.
“Please comment on the extent to which the opening of the Aquis Resort would affect the ongoing viability of the Reef Casino (assuming that Aquis Group did not buy the Reef Casino).

“Please explain any significant barriers that a casino operator would face in seeking to establish a viable new casino in Queensland or Cairns.’’ Submissions close on May 1. 

Too little consultation on casino plan

We have been saying all along that there has been no consultation from the architects  or the proposed owners except for information displays at Cairns Central and Yorkeys Knob shopping centre where information given was not the appropiate information that residents wanted.

Some people just say "build it" without even reading any information that been on the website.

So the story below backs up our concerns.

April 10, 2014

As reported in the Brisbane Times

That Thinking Feeling

Madonna King is a leading journalist and commentator. She was an award-winning mornings presenter on 612 ABC Brisbane and is a five-times author.

The state government has failed to properly consult the public on its plan for three new casinos, writes Madonna King.
Does anyone else feel uneasy about Brisbane city playing host to a big new casino, perhaps only the throw of a dice away from the one that already operates?
Why isn’t there more genuine public debate about this casino, wrapped in a resort development, taking up a 700 metre tract of prime river frontage, now owned by the people of Queensland?
Or what about the other two new casinos, that are set to pop up in regional Queensland?
The Newman government promised to listen more to voters after the savage backhander it received in the Redcliffe by-election recently.

Advertisement

Its decision to push ahead with three new casinos without a genuine public debate and thorough research shows that’s very unlikely.
Perhaps another casino, in the heart of Brisbane, is just what we need. Perhaps voters on the Gold Coast and in the Whitsundays and in Cairns and on Great Keppel Island are crying out for more gambling opportunities.
But have they had a genuine say?
The government says it has, asking Queenslanders last year what they wanted to do with the big precinct area. Talk of a casino was just media talk, it said at the time.
Not long after, the government said feedback had found "mixed views on what role, if any, a casino should play within the redevelopment".
Then a second round of consultation - involving 408 people - found less than half (47 per cent) showed "some level of support towards the integrated casino development".
So now you're getting three. A dozen bidders have already paid the $100,000 application fee to express their interest, and the Newman government is shortlisting the applicants, who will be invited to move to the next stage.
Sure, it’s brought in respected probity adviser Len Scanlon - but isn’t that a bit like asking for sex before the first date?
Shouldn’t we be really debating the priority or need for more casinos, before looking at who should run them?
I love a punt at Treasury Casino as much as the next person. But a decision on whether or not to support another three casinos requires a lot more public debate than a spin of the wheel or targeted consultation with limited respondents.
For example, given this government says it’s hellbent on reducing organised crime, how much work has it done on the likely flow-on implications of another gambling facility?
Or where’s the evaluation of the social implications of this decision?
Or what is the concrete long-term economic gain, apart from a construction sugar-hit?
Or should we be tying up such a big parcel of land when we don’t have a clear picture of what our city will need in 50 years’ time?
Those are questions that should be answered before a decision to hand anyone another casino licence is made.
There’s others too. While Chinese interests are dominating the tender process, what happens if Echo Entertainment, which now already owns Treasury Casino, doesn’t win the tender for the second one?
Does that mean we might have two casinos adjacent to each other?
How, and on what basis, does the Newman government decide which regional area wins a new casino?
The government is saying that it is clear voters share its decision to create world-class resort facilities. But three casinos have snuck through in the small print.
Our affection for Bris-Vegas doesn’t need to be seen so literally.

Email: mk@madonnaking.com.au Twitter: @madonnamking

Backers of 340-hectare casino near Barrier Reef deny environment impact - Who's running Australia?

• theguardian.com, Monday 7 April 2014 17.33 AEST

Development to house 12,000 guests would not cause effects significant enough to warrant federal assessment, they say

Original design:

An artist's impression of the proposed Aquis Great Barrier Reef resort. 

New design:

A gigantic resort proposed for far north Queensland does not need federal environmental assessment, its backers have argued, even though it includes two casinos, eight accommodation towers, a golf course and a 33-hectare lake filled via a 2.2km pipeline from the Great Barrier Reef.
The $8bn Aquis project, slated for Yorkeys Knob, north of Cairns, is described as “Australia’s only genuine, world-class, integrated resort”.
The resort, which would cover 340 hectares, is backed by the Hong Kong investor Tony Fung, who last year bought the Reef Casino Trust, which operates the Cairns casino.
An initial advice statement from July last year describes the casino as the “man-made wonder of the world” that north Queensland is missing. The development would include accommodation for up to 12,000 guests, an 18-hole golf course, tennis courts and the artificial lake.
The resort would be built on the Barron river floodplains, which drains into the Great Barrier Reef lagoon, on land used mostly as sugar cane plantations. The proposal has divided the small community of Yorkeys Knob.
In a submission to the federal Department of the Environment last week, Aquis maintained it did not require a commonwealth environmental assessment process, as any impacts on the surrounding environment – including the reef – were not significant enough to warrant it.
Should the proposal be considered for a “controlled action” under environmental legislation, a report appended to the submission is good enough.
“A draft EIS [environmental impact statement] has been completed but not submitted to the co-ordinator-general, pending finalisation of a related issuing of a casino licence that is critical to the project viability,” the company said.
Aquis said if the development did not go ahead an opportunity would be lost to preserve and interpret Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultural values, and to preserve and restore natural habitats.
It also said the resort would provide refuge for local residents during storms.
Community groups have expressed concern at the size of the proposed resort and the social impact of gambling, and questioned whether any economic benefits would flow from tourists arriving on cruise ships.
Environmentalists warned the casino could disturb a delicate floodplain, risk pollution of the Great Barrier Reef and heighten the risk of flooding.
Wendy Tubman, a co-ordinator of the North Queensland Conservation Council, told Guardian Australia it was “essential” the impact of the casino was properly assessed.
“It’s a very sensitive area and it’s a massive development,” she said. “It’s only reasonable that they take precautions, even if it slows them up a bit.
“As Gaylord Nelson said, the economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment, not the other way around.”
Andrew Picone, of the Australian Conservation Foundation, said: “At a minimum, it should be considered a controlled action to protect the Great Barrier Reef.
“We have a developer here who thinks he should be given all the approvals, but there is due process and the community should have its say.
“The environment there is already a floodplain, it is prone to flooding even without the creation of artificial lakes. With climate change and rising sea levels, massive developments like this in storm surge zones put the environment at risk and put lives at risk, too.”

Click here to read comments on the above story:

Who are the Fungs? Meet the private family behind the Aquis mega-resort and casino proposal at Yorkeys Knob - From an article written by Nick Dalton Cairns Post

• Nick Dalton
• From: The Cairns Post
• December 21, 2013 4:15AM

This is an interesting article by Nick Dalton especially the area that has been marked in red, which way is this meant to be read?.

WHEN Tony and Justin Fung arrived in Cairns to expand their business empire, little was known about the billionaire family.

While the people behind the proposed $4.2 billion Aquis Great Barrier Reef Resort remain intensely private, The Weekend Post can reveal a glimpse of their charmed lives.
A high-profile investor from Hong Kong, Mr Fung Sr is a former champion go-kart racer who once raced against the late Formula One legend Ayrton Senna, a fan of golf, boats and planes and has a deep interest in Australian agriculture.
His son Justin has two degrees from universities in the US and loves fishing and basketball
While the Far North is set to swelter in 30-plus degrees and 65 per cent or more humidity on Christmas Day, the wealthy Fung family behind the proposed $4.2 billion Aquis mega-resort at Yorkeys Knob will be cooling off in Antarctica.
Hong Kong-based Tony Fung flew his family  including Aquis chief executive Justin and other sons Jason and 12-year-old John  to Chile to board their luxury expedition yacht Asteria for two weeks of cruising the waters of Antarctica.

PROPOSAL: What a new Aquis resort and casino development at Yorkeys Knob might look like. Pic. Supplied

The unusual Christmas and New Year break will be a special time before the 61-year-old and Justin, 29, prepare for a frenetic year in which, if all goes according to plan, will herald the start of the Aquis Great Barrier Reef Resort in July.
Family is very important to Mr Fung Sr and Justin told The Weekend Post that families would be their target customers for the resort, which will include an international casino, nine luxury hotels with 3750 rooms, 1200 apartments, 135 villas, 13,500sq m of high-end retail shopping, an aquarium, two theatres, a 13ha lagoon, 65ha lake, 18-hole golf course, 25,000-seat sports stadium, 45,000sq m convention and exhibition centre and 1800 staff accommodation units.
He said the resort would be designed for entire families to enjoy and not just for men.
Mr Fung Jr said it would give Aquis a point of difference to casinos with integrated resorts in Singapore and Macau.
"Aquis will be for all the family to come to Australia and not only enjoy the facilities of the resort, but the natural attractions of the Great Barrier Reef and rainforests," he said.

FAMILY: Aquis Great Barrier Reef Resort Chief Executive Officer Justin Fung. Picture: Marc Mccormack

The Fungs are private people and information about the family is closely guarded.
When The Cairns Post asked Hong Kong's South China Morning Post newspaper for photographs of the family, senior staff there said they had not heard of Tony Fung and the last picture they had of him on file was from 1996.
Mr Fung Sr is the billionaire scion of one of Hong Kong's best-known banking families and has dug into the economic fabric of Queensland.
He owns two luxury homes in the Noosa hinterland, a cattle farm at Mt Garnet west of Cairns, wagyu beef-breeding business at Innisfail and sugar cane plantation on the Atherton Tableland.
His substantial fortune was inherited from his father Fung King Hey, known as "the godfather of traders", a billionaire who was at one time the largest shareholder in the world's largest stock brokerage firm, Merrill Lynch.
He also founded Sun Hung Kai Securities.
Fung King Hey made his fortune in tandem with his two business partners, Kwok Tak Seng and Lee Shau Kee.
The partners were the best of friends and were widely known in China and Hong Kong as "the three musketeers".
Their children also became the best of friends.
Tony Fung started closely held stock trading firm Yu Ming Investments in 1996.
He served as chairman of SHKI Group, which was managed by Yu Ming until May 2008.
He is the younger brother of Thomas Fung Wing-fat,who moved to Canada in 1986 and built the Fairchild Group media company.
Staying in Hong Kong after his father's corporation was taken over by Arab banking interests in 1985, Tony Fung sold his remaining 25 per cent stock in SHK Finance and began building up Yu Ming Management Ltd, which consequently made him a billionaire.
He is an avid cook and loves scouring markets for fresh produce.
He has been through Cairns' fresh food markets, including Rusty's, many times to buy ingredients.
Mr Fung Sr is a former champion go-kart racer and competed against Ayrton Senna, though Senna lapped him plenty of times.
He loves his boats and planes, including the family yacht Asteria.
Mr Fung Sr has a passion for Australian agriculture and the fact that Australia is a major trading partner for China.
His properties focus on wagyu and grain-finished beef plus sugar cane.
He has a strong belief in "water rights" as a hugely important asset for Australia's future and believes Australia hugely undervalues the natural resource.
Mr Fung Sr loves golf and getting lessons from his staff on his own golf course at Noosa so he can go home and beat his mates in Hong Kong.
Justin Fung has spent all his career working for his father in the family businesses based in Hong Kong. He was educated in the United States and has two degrees: one a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in history, from Duke University; the other a law degree from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
Justin said that after graduating with the BA, he realised the degree was not going to be of much use for his father's real estate interests and went back to school to obtain the law degree over three years.
Since then he has worked for his father in Hong Kong until being appointed to oversee the development of Aquis, splitting his time between Cairns and the family business headquarters in Hong Kong.
The chief executive leases an apartment in the Harbour Lights building and the company has an office at Cairns Square.
Justin is single and enjoys fishing and basketball.

Well well another design change

 

Mr Fung has described Aquis as a Mini City, let's say a Mega City
The design for the Aquis Casino/Resort has changed yet again, Why?
The latest design is adding more to the original design which includes NOT ONE BUT TWO CASINOS and how will this affect the EIS which was produced for the original design so will they have to submit another EIS?.
What Tony Fung has to remember is that this is Yorkeys Knob not Las Vegas, Macau or Hong Kong and building this monstrosity will affect the Northern Beach and more so Yorkeys Knob for years to come.
They haven't sat down with the locals to discuss this development apart from "information centres" setup in Cairns Central and at Yorkeys.
We need to talk to the power brokers, we need to know what is happening because many changes have been put forward but in the last design everything is back on board, do they really know themselves what is happening? but they said they won't talk to the residents but will only talk to the committee members of Yorkeys Residents Association. NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

Let's look at the designs:

The original design:

Then on December 4, 2013 the Member for Cairns Gavin King said That he preferred this design:


Drawcard: Member for Cairns Gavin King said Singapore"s Marina Bay Sanda resort was the preferred model for a casino development

Then in March of 2014 a revised plan was displayed in the Cairns Post:

 



Impression of the Aquis development above & below



 

 



 Then again on April 4, 2014 a new masterplan emerged at a cost of $8.15 billion not $4.2 billion:

 

The new design outlay

Bold Vision

 



The official masterplan of the Aquis mega-resort courtesy of Flanagan Consulting Group



The complete outlay of the Casino/Resort.

 

One has to ask why are these people changing the designs as if there is no tomorrow?

Also why does Cairns need three casinos as we don't have the population and if the politicians think that we are going to be invaded by Chinese I suggest that you think again because recent surveys carried out showed that more Chinese are going to Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

This project will not benefit the Cairns CBD shops and definitely will not help the businesses in Yorkeys as all the Chinese visiting will probably do their shopping at Aquis.

Interesting reading

The dark side of Asia's gambling Mecca

By Katie Hunt, for CNN

June 18, 2013 

Macau has transformed itself from a sleepy backwater to Asia's gambling capital

Macau (CNN) -- Triad attacks. Prostitute calling cards. Illicit money flows.

This is the dark underbelly of Macau -- Asia's gambling capital. The only Chinese territory where casinos are permitted, the city has transformed itself in little more than a decade from a sleepy backwater to a neon-lit monument to China's passion for gambling.

Gambling revenues in the city surpassed Las Vegas in 2006 and are now six times greater. But the former Portuguese colony's dramatic rise has come at a cost, with many in Macau questioning whether growth has been too fast and furious.

"You really don't know whether society as a whole has benefited," said Samuel Huang, an associate professor in gambling studies at the Macau Polytechnic Institute.

Jorge Menezes, a Portuguese gaming industry lawyer based in Macau, says he was attacked in intimidation attempt linked to his work

Jorge Menezes, a Portuguese gaming industry lawyer based in Macau, says he was attacked in intimidation attempt linked to his work.

Portuguese lawyer Jorge Menezes, 47, has experienced first hand the city's more brutal side.

Last month, he was attacked in broad daylight by two men as he walked his five-year-old son to pre-school in what he believes was an intimidation attempt linked to his work as a lawyer.

"I was walking with my son and suddenly I felt a huge blow on the back of my head," he told CNN from his office just a block away from where the attack took place.

"I turned around, already bleeding, and he threw another blow toward my head and then a second guy came at me from behind.

"I couldn't run away because my son was there. I needed to protect him."

Menezes, who injured his wrist and required stitches to his head, said the two assailants each had a brick tied to one of their hands.

"I was told it's a technique used by mafioso in mainland China, because they can carry it without being seen as a weapon."

A spokesman for Macau's Public Security Police, confirmed that the lawyer was attacked by two Chinese men brandishing hard objects who later fled. They added the case was under investigation.

In the run-up to the city's return to China, gang violence was commonplace, claiming the lives of some 37 people in 1999 alone -- though violent crime became rarer as the city's gaming market boomed.

However, some recent cases have unsettled residents. In 2012, a longtime operator of VIP casino junkets, Ng Man-sun, was beaten by six men in his hotel in what was reportedly a dispute with his ex-lover.

The city also feared a return to violence after the release of a notorious gangster known as Wan Kuok-kio or "Broken Tooth" in December after 15 years in prison.

WATCH: 'Broken Tooth' released from prison

Menezes says he rarely goes out to socialize and he cannot think of a personal motive for the attack: "I have no doubt that it's linked to work. It is definitely an attempt to intimidate me or put me out of action for a few months.

"I was working on cases that could bring direct or collateral damage -- collateral in the sense that there are third parties that are affected by what I am doing," he said, declining to say who he thought was behind the attack.

As a precaution, he has recruited a security guard cum secretary, but Menezes says he intends to stay put and continue representing his clients.

Steve Vickers, a former intelligence officer with the Hong Kong police and a specialist in triad activities, claimed Macau's gaming sector retains deep ties to organized crime.

"The scene has changed over the past 10 years as the pie has vastly increased," said Vickers, who now runs a specialist risk mitigation and corporate intelligence consultancy SVA. "It's not the cowboy town it was when Broken Tooth was running around.

"The big boys have moved in ... and they do not want visible street fights, with people being beaten up because it's bad for business and brings attention."

By and large, Macau remains a safe place with 182 violent crimes reported in the first three months of this year, up one from the same period a year earlier, according to figures from the Secretary for Security. The city is home to 500,000 people, while Macau's three dozen casinos attract more than 28 million visitors a year.

You won't find their names on the front (door) but the hard reality is that Chinese junkets are largely controlled by triad societies
Steve Vickers

Vickers says that while the city's big casinos, some owned by U.S. tycoons Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson, operate correctly and legally, they work in a "messy environment."

They are reliant on income from high rollers and these VIPs are usually brought in from China by junket operators.

"The junkets are an integral part of the gaming scene and they facilitate the transfer of funds, the finding of the high rollers and they facilitate the breaching of Chinese capital controls.

"You won't find their names on the front (door) but the hard reality is that Chinese junkets are largely controlled by triad societies."

China tightly controls the amount of money individuals can take out of the country, with a limit of 20,000 yuan ($3,262) per day and citizens traveling to Macau, which is considered a special administrative region, are subject to these limits.

However, China has turned a blind eye to the abuse of capital controls, said Vickers although he added, this could change as the country's new leaders look to crack down on corruption amid worries about officials funneling money through the city.

Macau government officials did not immediately respond to a request from CNN for comment.

The triads are also said to be involved in prostitution rings, another bone of contention for local Macau residents -- although prostitution is not illegal.

Macau is on a U.S. State Department watch list for human trafficking and according to the 2012 report, criminal syndicates are involved in recruitment.

It says many women fall prey to false advertisements for casino jobs but upon arrival are forced into prostitution.

Many of the city's sidewalks and underpasses are littered with prostitutes' calling cards and fliers for saunas and pole dancing clubs.

"I don't know how to explain this to my children," said Huang at the Macau Polytechnic Institute.

Authorities are keen to diversify Macau's appeal and turn the city into a broader entertainment destination that attracts families and not just casino goers.

New resorts boast attractions like wave pools, fake beaches and high-class dining but there's little evidence that sales of spa treatments and slap-up meals will ever begin to approach revenue from the gambling tables.

"I don't think promoting a more family-friendly environment will be easy," said Huang.