Macau has imposed a rule requiring all operators to feature flashing clocks on their slot machines.

On 1 September, the city brought its Electronic Gaming Machine Technical Standards version 2.0 into force, it confirmed to GGRAsia.

This progressive move from the Asian casino capital marks the city’s latest shift in its approach to gambling.

Macau’s regulator, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, will offer a grace period in which gaming equipment manufacturers must retrofit existing slot machines with the necessary software.

In addition, they must ensure new slot machines supplied to the Macau market feature a clock as standard by the end of 2024.

In response to a query by GGRAsia, the regulator stated: “The purpose of a clock on the gaming machine is for the promotion of responsible gaming. All machines will need to be retrofitted with the clock by the end of the year 2024.”

In accordance with the 2.0 technical specifications, slot machines must feature a time display in a 12-hour clock format in the bottom-right corner of the player main screen.

The clock must also flash at the start of a new play session, and then at least once every 10 minutes for the duration of the same play session.

Moreover, there may be no hidden touch points or buttons that affect gameplay on the player screen or other interface points, the document stipulates.

The regulator reiterated this last point to GGRAsia: “As stated in Section 4.5 (3) of the standards: ‘There shall be no hidden or undocumented touch points or buttons anywhere on the player interface that affect game play and/or that impact the integrity or outcome of the game, except as provided for by the game rules’.”