From January through March, law enforcement in Macau reported a 61.5% rise in gaming crimes, tallying 567 incident reports, a significant increase from the first quarter of the previous year. This surge is attributed to the recent criminalization of unlicensed currency exchanges in the casino city.
In June of the previous year, Beijing launched a crackdown on illicit money changers who assist gamblers in evading government restrictions on capital outflow. Subsequently, in October, the Macau Legislative Assembly enacted legislation criminalizing these activities.
The Ministry of Public Security has indicated that these exchanges facilitate money laundering and are linked to various criminal activities, including “fights, fraud, thefts, illegal immigration, and other crimes,” extending to kidnapping and murder.
The updated Law on Combating Gambling Crimes now prescribes prison sentences of up to five years for those involved. Convicted individuals could also face a 10-year prohibition from entering city casinos.
Moreover, the new law has increased the penalties for illegal gambling. Engaging in side bets and parallel betting could result in up to eight years in imprisonment. The legislation also bolsters police powers to raid and search suspected illegal gambling dens.
### Crime up despite fewer casinos
Interestingly, the increase in criminal incidents occurred despite a decrease in the total number of casinos—from 40 in 2019 to just 30 today.
Suspicious transaction reports by gaming operators reached a record high of 3,837 last year, an 11.8% increase year-on-year and the highest volume since the inception of Macau’s Financial Intelligence Office in 2006.
The rise in illegal money changers coincided with shifts in the VIP sector, including the near-disappearance of the junket trade. The State Administration of Foreign Exchange in China limits overseas withdrawals from Chinese banks to CNY100,000 ($14,000) per year—a relatively modest amount for high rollers accustomed to betting $25,000 per hand.
Of the 567 cases recorded in Q1, 132 involved money changers, accounting for more than 60% of the increase. Fraud was the second most common offense, with 152 cases, or 26.8%. Other reported offenses included usury, theft, misappropriation, and defiance of casino exclusion orders.
“Casinos and gambling are generally seen as hotbeds for various forms of deviant behavior and criminal offenses,” states researcher Quan Fang from the School of Law at Macau University of Science and Technology.
Sonny Shiu-Hing Lo, an author on crime in Macau, remarks that “casinos contribute to activities such as white money laundering, loan sharking, and prostitution.”
The law against unlicensed money exchanges was motivated by the murder of a money changer who had won approximately CNY2.3 million at a local casino. He was later found stabbed to death in his room at the Wynn Palace on Cotai.
Overall, Macau has witnessed a notable increase in gaming-related crime in the first quarter, largely due to stringent laws targeting illegal money exchange operations.