Joao Meneses
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Articles by Joao Meneses
Cost of superstition
Macau Business Magazine | October 2026 Macau Business magazine l October 2026 | Special Report | Traditional Customs and Beliefs “Auspicious” days designated by the Chinese lunar calendar can lead to poor decision-making when it comes to making money. Social norms are informal rules that govern human behaviour in specific situations. The Chinese lunar calendar represents a ubiquitous social norm shaped by centuries of cultural customs and traditions.
Lucky and unlucky numbers are ubiquitous in Chinese culture
Macau Business magazine l October 2026 | Special Report | Traditional Customs and Beliefs Consumer product advertisements in China disproportionately feature the number eight while shunning the number four. The opening ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games officially commenced at 8:08 p.m. on 8 August 2008—a timing chosen because eight is considered a symbol of good fortune in Chinese culture.
Lucky and unlucky numbers are ubiquitous in Chinese culture
Macau Business Magazine | October 2026 Macau Business magazine l October 2026 | Special Report | Traditional Customs and Beliefs Consumer product advertisements in China disproportionately feature the number eight while shunning the number four. The opening ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games officially commenced at 8:08 p.m. on 8 August 2008—a timing chosen because eight is considered a symbol of good fortune in Chinese culture.
Public sector nurses suffer workload strain and pay dissatisfaction, study finds
Study finds low pay, heavy administrative duties, and worsening nurse-to-patient ratios are driving severe public healthcare staffing shortages in Macau.
“The mere presence of the smartphone on the table can reduce attention”
Macau Business magazine l September 2026 | Special Report | Schools without smartphones Professor Christian Montag is Distinguished Professor of Cognitive and Brain Sciences and Associate Director of the Institute of Collaborative Innovation at the University of Macau, a position he has held since 2024. He previously served as a professor at Ulm University in Germany for ten years. Montag works at the intersection of psychology, neuroscience, behavioural economics, and computer science.
Cryptocurrencies and ‘economic public order’: How far does Macau’s ban go?
The Court of Final Appeal refused trademark registration for cryptocurrency-related services, while the reporting judge argued that the case concerned intellectual property rights, not the actual trading or use of virtual assets in Macau A company applied in early 2022 to register two trademarks in Macau covering a wide range of financial and digital services: virtual currency brokerage, digital wallets, cryptocurrency payments, transaction processing, mining, and digital currency issuance,...
Sham marriages, false paternity: Macau tightens grip on residency fraud
The government’s strict approach to residency revocations is backed by the justice system, notably the Court of Final Appeal Simulated marriages continue to serve as an avenue for obtaining fraudulent residency rights in Macau. Despite intensified efforts by law enforcement, the issue remains one of the most frequent subjects before the local courts. Between May and June this year alone, the Court of Final Appeal (TUI) ruled on three separate cases involving residency fraud.
Mainland China and Hong Kong: Two different models
China was the first country to impose a complete ban on smartphones in schools nationwide. Macau Business magazine l September 2026 | Special Report | Schools without smartphones When choosing which path to follow regarding smartphone use in schools, the Macau government faced two completely different models: that of Mainland China and that of Hong Kong. The decision was made to look north, drawing on the experience launched by Beijing in 2021.
To ban or not to ban
Macau Business Magazine | September 2026 Macau Business magazine l September 2026 | Special Report | Schools without smartphones While UNESCO strongly recommends banning smartphones in schools, not all scientific studies point in the same direction Poor mental health in adolescents can negatively affect sleep, physical activity, and academic performance, and is attributed by some to increasing mobile phone use.
Unfiltered digital exposure, rising youth crime
Macau Business Magazine | September 2026 Macau Business magazine l September 2026 | Special Report | Schools without smartphones A recent surge in juvenile delinquency across Macau is being closely linked by authorities to prolonged exposure to unmonitored online content. The smuggling of electronics—including old mobile phones and laptops—across the border into the mainland is not exactly new.
Parents concerned about cyberbullying
Macau Business Magazine | September 2026 Macau Business magazine l September 2026 | Special Report | Schools without smartphones Many victims remain silent and many cases are kept secret. A recent case shocked Macau. It can be said that Macau woke up to the problem of cyberbullying in June, when the Judiciary Police (PJ) disclosed an assault on a student by a group of six young people—three boys and three girls aged between 11 and 15.
Blaming parents is easy
Macau Business Magazine | September 2026 Macau Business magazine l September 2026 | Special Report | Schools without smartphones While there are cases where parents are even more frequent smartphone users than their children, there are also many families deeply concerned about the situation In addition to her work as a lecturer at the City University of Macau, Jenny Lok is a local psychotherapist with extensive experience working with young people and parents.
Childhood obesity
Macau Business Magazine | September 2026 Macau Business magazine l September 2026 | Special Report | Schools without smartphones The more time children spend in front of a screen, the less time they have for physical activity, whether sports or simple play. If there is an area in which the Macau government cannot complain about a lack of scientific research to support administrative decisions, it is public health involving children and young people.
Mental health under the microscope
Macau Business Magazine | September 2026 Macau Business magazine l September 2026 | Special Report | Schools without smartphones Depression is prevalent among Macau healthcare students, but improving sleep quality could help mitigate the impact of problematic internet use The scientific community in Macau has embraced the global trend of studying the impacts of intensive internet use and screen time on young people—and there is no shortage of research on the subject.
Government satisfied with first year of school smartphone ban
Macau Business Magazine | September 2026 Following a pilot scheme during the 2024/25 academic year, the general smartphone ban introduced for 2025/26 is set to continue Macau Business magazine l September 2026 | Special Report | Schools without smartphones There is a widespread perception locally that the Legislative Assembly (AL) lacks the prominence expected of a body partially elected by the public, a dynamic often attributed to the executive branch’s dominant role over the legislature.
Yes or no to smartphone-free schools—and why?
Macau Business Magazine | September 2026 Macau Business brought together a panel of five experts to answer the central question of this special report. Five voices, five perspectives. Macau Business magazine l September 2026 | Special Report | Schools without smartphones “Yes, with qualifications” “I support a smartphone-free school day, meaning that students should not have access to personal smartphones during lessons, breaks, or other ordinary school activities.
Macau’s over-65 workforce surges 74 per cent in past ten years
Macau’s active population aged 65 and above surged 74 per cent from 7,800 to 13,600 over the past ten years, contrasting sharply with a 5.5 per cent contraction in the total workforce An accelerated ‘feminisation’ of older workers is under way, with active women aged 65-plus surging 145 per cent as the older workforce approaches gender parity. That Macau’s population is ageing comes as no surprise.
Casino employees face worsening mental health problems: study
A survey of 563 Macau gaming workers reveals 16 per cent suffer from severe or extremely severe depression, while 33.9 per cent report high anxiety levels.
“Macau’s goal to derive roughly 60 per cent of its GDP from non-gaming industries by 2030 is ambitious but increasingly realistic”
Macau Business Magazine | August 2026 Carlos Siu Lam believes that the feasibility of this transition hinges on several critical factors, including sustained investment from concessionaires and the execution of the “1+4” diversification strategy, combined with the strategic advantages offered by Hengqin.
The obstacles within
Macau Business Magazine | August 2026 Experts interviewed by Macau Business in both Macau and Nevada point to two defining future challenges: the integration of artificial intelligence and the intensifying demands of external regulation Macau Business magazine l August 2026 | Special Report | When Macau outstripped Las Vegas “Artificial intelligence and emerging technologies are poised to fundamentally reshape Macau’s gaming landscape, offering both unprecedented opportunities and complex...
Mario Ho reveals he named his son Ronaldo in tribute to Portuguese football idol
Mario Ho, son of the late Macau casino tycoon Stanley Ho and businesswoman Angela Leong, revealed in a social media post this week that he named his first son Ronaldo in honour of the Portuguese footballer. Mario shared a photo of himself with his idol Cristiano Ronaldo at the Esports World Cup (EWC), accompanied by the caption: “Can I get a SIUUUU?! 🤩 Thank you EWC for making this happen. I can finally tell the GOAT [Note: GOAT refers to the Greatest Of All Time] that I’m naming my son after him.
Fixing the GBA’s legal gridlock
Macau Business Magazine | August 2026 Legal disputes in the Greater Bay Area can ping‑pong between Hong Kong, Macau and the Mainland, fuelling ‘forum shopping’, duplicate lawsuits and uneven outcomes, a study indicates.
Angola played a key market role in Macau’s early industrialisation: study Original
50 years before Macau began to be discussed as a gateway to Portuguese-speaking countries, Macau and Angola, as well as Macau and Mozambique, were already important trading partners. According to research by local historian Leong Wong Un Na, “During the 1950s and 1960s, Macau’s garment industries rapidly grew by relying on the Portuguese African markets.
Diversification: wishful thinking unless…
Macau Business Magazine | August 2026 Macau Business magazine l August 2026 | Special Report | When Macau outstripped Las Vegas Macau’s government has extended its long-standing target for non-gaming industries to account for around 60 per cent of gross domestic product by 2030, under the city’s proposed third five-year development plan.
Macau artist turns a disputed island into “Error Island”
Macau-based artist Cai Guojie represents the SAR at Portugal’s 2026 Vila Nova de Cerveira International Art Biennial with his exhibition “Error Island”. The project explores property record inaccuracies and territorial ambiguity using a disputed island on the Portugal–Spain border as a creative metaphor Vila Nova de Cerveira is a small town on the northern border of Portugal that has been on the international art map for 40 years, hosting an International Art Biennial.
Everything changed in 20 years. Almost.
Macau Business Magazine | August 2026 The VIP era faded, junkets disappeared, Cotai rose, and integrated resorts completely reshaped the city’s skyline.
Special Report – The camel already has two humps; will it have a third?
Macau Business Magazine | August 2026 No one dares to predict what gaming revenues will look like in the next 10 years.
2006 began in 2004
Macau Business Magazine | August 2026 Macau Business magazine l August 2026 | Special Report | When Macau outstripped Las Vegas “Macau is the most dramatically changing place on the planet.
Expert charts course on how to make Forum Macau a shared project for Lusophone nations and lessen ‘excessive’ reliance on Beijing
A new working paper by researcher Alberto Maresca suggests that combining Brazilian soft power with Chinese economic capacity can drive development in Portuguese-speaking African countries (PALOP) through triangular cooperation. Maresca argues that while Forum Macau has successfully elevated diplomatic ties to the multilateral sphere, the primary challenge remains shifting its reliance away from excessive dependence on China to foster active participation from member states.
It is urgent for Macau to understand visitors “as they are today” – researcher
“The old models and the old experience may not fully apply to the current market anymore,” says a researcher pointing to structural vulnerabilities in Macau’s gaming and tourism metrics Sometimes having a detached view of the facts being studied can help create a different perspective from the one experienced daily. This seems to be the case with the conclusions of the recently published research paper Volatility Spillovers in Macao’s Gaming Economy before and after COVID-19.
“A story of a society shaping technology to its own ends”
Macau Business magazine | July 2026 Macau Business magazine l July 2026 | Special Report | E-payment Spree Raymond Lai is confident that the e-MOP initiative has the potential to address the unique needs of the elderly, children, and tourists who lack local bank accounts. A Senior Instructor at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Macau, his research spans social change, emerging technologies, electronic commerce, and e-government.
Damn Scamdemic | Macau Business
Macau Business magazine | July 2026 Macau Business magazine l July 2026 | Special Report | E-payment Spree It is rare in Macau to find someone who does not know, either directly or indirectly, a victim of fraud or a scam. These schemes feature in the news daily, yet most of the time, the public looks without truly grasping the structural vulnerabilities at stake However, the so-called ‘Taobao scam’ proved to be far more than just another routine case.
“e-MOP has the potential to break the stagnation of e-payment usage” Original
Macau Business magazine | July 2026 Macau Business magazine l July 2026 | Special Report | E-payment Spree Terence Lai is an Associate Professor at Macao Polytechnic University, where his research focuses on technology-driven business innovation and digital systems.
Next step: Digital currency
Macau Business magazine | July 2026 Macau Business magazine l July 2026 | Special Report | E-payment Spree Casino gaming operators should welcome the adoption of digital currency, according to a local expert, as the project remains in its testing phase. In December 2024, António Lobo Vilela, a Macau-based lawyer and author of the Macau Gaming Law Book, penned an opinion piece for Macau Business titled “e-MOP: New Macau’s casino coin of the realm?”.
E-commerce: The catalyst
Macau Business magazine | July 2026 Macau Business magazine l July 2026 | Special Report | E-payment Spree E-commerce fuelled by tourism on both sides of the border has injected unprecedented dynamism into electronic payments. “Macau, like any modern economy, has been open to both local and cross-border e-commerce, along with its financial engine — in this case, e-payment infrastructure.
Then as now, transportation remains the critical linchpin
Macau Business magazine | July 2026 Macau Business magazine l July 2026 | Special Report | E-payment Spree While bus payments are largely resolved and the LRT is set to follow later this year, the taxi industry remains a hurdle for complete transit integration It is no coincidence that Macau began experimenting with e-payments on buses (initially via Transmac).
Driving digital evolution: Pushing SMEs into e-commerce
Macau Business magazine | July 2026 Macau Business magazine l July 2026 | Special Report | E-payment Spree With Simple Pay and other initiatives, the government helped increase the penetration of e-payments and e-commerce “The Macau government is actively advancing the digital economy, with new features such as ‘Tap’ technology speeding up transactions and expanding e-payment options,” says Ansoumane Diakite, from the Faculty of Business and Law at the University of Saint Joseph (USJ).
E-pay craze | Macau Business
Macau Business magazine | July 2026 Macau Business magazine l July 2026 | Special Report | E-payment Spree Driven by the unstoppable momentum of mainland China, Macau has witnessed a wholesale shift toward cashless transactions. Today, electronic payments are no longer an emerging trend; by 2025, market penetration had reached full saturation.
STDM’s Estoril Sol posts €25.3 million loss in 2025
The termination of the Póvoa casino concession took a toll on the group’s accounts Estoril Sol risks a €36.9 million tax penalty, while an audit report suggests a €35 million equity reinforcement Estoril Sol, Portugal’s leading casino operator majority-owned by Macau’s STDM, has posted a loss of €25.3 million (MOP 233.5 million) in 2025, according to newly released results. The company has finally presented its accounts for 2025 following three postponements.
The luck of being a croupier (in Macau…)
The non-gaming sector employs more highly skilled workers on average, yet the gaming industry continues to offer higher salaries. It is public knowledge that workers in the gaming sector are the highest paid in Macau, and that among them, croupiers are at the top of the pyramid. What five researchers from the University of Macau have just published is an explanation for this fact, in addition to the fact that, legally, only residents can perform this profession.
‘Bad’ luck | Macau Business
Macau Business magazine | July 2026 A Chinese tobacco brand tried for almost a decade to register its name in Macau. It came close to succeeding, but the opposition proved too heavy “Lucky Strike” is one of the world’s best-known tobacco brands. Coincidence or not, a Chinese company has been trying to register a competing trademark called “Lucky Clouds” — and in Macau, it came very close to succeeding.
【息息相關】面對逆風，步伐繼續加快 | Macau Business
18 Jul 2026 Beyond raw transaction volume and market penetration, the most enduring legacy of MPay is psychological: it has fundamentally rewired consumer behaviour in Macau. 18 Jul 2026 Hengqin hosts microdrama studio with macro expansion plans 18 Jul 2026 BEIJING—Last month’s summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping signaled that the Sino-American relationship is moving from intense confrontation back toward something more stable.
【息息相關】面對逆風，步伐繼續加快 | Macau Business
Business IntelligenceMAGMBMB Featured 18 Jul 2026 2025年，在中國銀行主導的市場格局下，廣發銀行股份有限公司澳門分行首次躋身本地銀行業前五名。行業整體淨收益回升至2023年水平的91%，期內錄得虧損的銀行數目從上一年的12家減少至9家，而大豐銀行的虧損則持續擴大。 撰文： João Paulo Meneses 澳門銀行業去年維持韌性與穩定增長，儘管面臨持續的全球地緣政治逆風——正如本地金融監管機構所強調。在2024年整體淨收益大挫62%之後，特區銀行業去年強勢反彈，總額達到61.6億澳門元。在行業整體新增的36億澳門元淨收入中，中國銀行的兩家本地附屬機構佔了40%，鞏固了集團在本地市場的主導地位。 中國銀行股份有限公司澳門分行及中國銀行（澳門）股份有限公司繼續佔據前兩名，去年兩者合共錄得超過51億澳門元的利潤，增長顯著。然而，儘管復甦強勁，兩家機構的表現仍遠低於2022年的高峰，當年兩者合併淨業績達95億澳門元。 2025年，只有另一家金融機構成功跨越10億澳門元利潤門檻：交通銀行，該行一直保持穩步上升的勢頭。 閲讀全文： 18...
The operating system of everyday life in Macau
Macau Business magazine | July 2026 Macau Business magazine l July 2026 | Special Report | E-payment Spree Beyond raw transaction volume and market penetration, the most enduring legacy of MPay is psychological: it has fundamentally rewired consumer behaviour in Macau. Two Macau companies have indelibly marked the city’s history over the last 50 years: STDM in the last quarter of the 20th century and Macau Pass in the first 25 years of this century.
Picking up pace despite headwinds
Macau Business magazine | July 2026 In a Bank of China-dominated landscape, Macau’s top-five banking league table welcomed China Guangfa Bank for the first time in 2025. Sector-wide net income bounced back to 91 per cent of the levels recorded in 2023, while the number of lenders operating in the red narrowed to nine, down from 12 in the previous year, with Tai Fung Bank extending and expanding its losing streak.
An increasingly digital pension system
Digital pension systems can significantly improve the efficiency, accessibility, and transparency of retirement provisions Macau Business magazine l June 2026 | Special Report | Macau’s idiosyncratic pension system Xue Wu, a professor and researcher at the School of Economics and Management at Sanming University, China, recently published an academic paper highlighting the distinct advantages of adopting digital architecture for pension management.
Minding the public-private pension gap
Civil servants can retire with up to four times the capital of their private-sector counterparts, but local analysts argue that expanding baseline coverage must take precedence over closing the wealth chasm Macau Business magazine l June 2026 | Special Report | Macau’s idiosyncratic pension system While a private-sector worker typically accumulates around 10 per cent of their salary for retirement, a civil servant is guaranteed a 21 per cent accumulation rate.
Post-pandemic lessons
The economic scars of the pandemic have not completely faded, underscoring the need to draw vital lessons from the COVID-19 years. Macau Business magazine l June 2026 | Special Report | Macau’s idiosyncratic pension system The pandemic has impacted Macau across multiple fronts, and the Social Security Fund’s (FSS) financing system was no exception.
The unique ‘Macau Pension Model’
A simple comparison with Hong Kong or Singapore reveals that Macau’s system has almost no points of contact with its regional peers Macau Business magazine l June 2026 | Special Report | Macau’s idiosyncratic pension system While various pension financing models exist around the world, none quite mirror Macau’s. Research carried out by Macau Business, after consulting key benchmarks across both the OECD and Southeast Asia, found no equivalent system.
Integration of pension systems within the GBA “a complex issue”
While complete technical integration of the pension systems in Hong Kong and Macau remains far off, their functional integration within the GBA is becoming increasingly likely. Macau Business magazine l June 2026 | Special Report | Macau’s idiosyncratic pension system By 31 December 2025, a total of 56,000 people had joined the “Health Insurance Subsidy Program for Mainland China Residents” across the nine cities of the Greater Bay Area (GBA), with the subsidy already granted to 19,000 residents.
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