Macau’s government introduced an array of new regulations last Friday designed to improve the gambling image in the city. The Legislative Assembly still has to sign off on the measures, but no one anticipates any opposition. One of the new guidelines applies directly to casino workers, and says that no Macau-based gaming employees are allowed to be on the casino floor outside of regular duty hours. This effectively means that no casino gaming employee will be able to gamble anywhere in the city.

Additionally, the measure broadly covers other casino employees. Food and beverage employees, cleaners, cage staff and surveillance staff won’t be able to gamble, either. The move isn’t a considerable blow, as a number of gaming operators already had contractual bans on employee gaming on their own property.

However, the bill now expands those limitations to prevent employees from gambling at any facility, regardless of affiliation. If an employee is found at a gaming operation outside working hours, he or she would face a fine of anywhere from $125 to $1,236. The only exception would be given to employees for the first three days of each Chinese New Year period.

The bill has been percolating since May of 2016, when representatives of the gaming regulator and local authorities discussed a similar ban. During those discussions, two local gaming labor groups said that they were not opposed to the measures.