Macau Law Enforcement Debunks an Online Betting Network that Took in $3.69 billion in Wagers

January 17, 2023 Macau Events & Announcements

The Macau Judiciary Police detained 15 residents on January 11, 2023, for alleged ties to an unlawful online gambling operation that has purportedly collected $3.69 billion in wagers since 2017.

Coordinators from abroad:
This illicit enterprise is probably run from computer servers abroad through Macau. They did, however, have additional bases spread out across mainland China in addition to Macau.

According to a police spokeswoman commenting on Wednesday’s arrest, the organization has allegedly taken in CNY18.5 billion (about 2.74 billion US dollars) in wagers since it began operating in 2017.

Arrest:
The arrest followed a coordinated operation by Macau police and mainland China police from the province of Guangdong. In addition, Chan Wun Man, spokesman for the Macau’s Judiciary Police, said that mainland Chinese police were supporting Macau law enforcement in the cross-border inquiry since the aforementioned organization was so pervasive that it had members on both sides of the border.

Fortunately, the joint operation was a complete success, with 27 persons being detained in numerous regions on the mainland for allegedly belonging to the gang.

15 of these 27 individuals—aged 29 to 66—are natives of Macau. They were taken to the city’s public prosecutor’s office after being arrested for a thorough interrogation.

They are accused of participating in organized crime, as well as running illegal gambling operations and money laundering offenses, according to Mr. Chan.

Speaking about the arrest and how the organization operated, Mr. Chan told TDM Radio Service, a Chinese-language public broadcaster, “The ringleader established many shareholder accounts, and these shareholders looked for agents that worked for them, and these agents then recruited players for the Internet-based gambling activities.

This group has operated a variety of Internet-based gambling games, including those that it self-created, like online baccarat and a game called “fishing,” as well as illegal football wagering.

“The computer servers for the supposedly run by the gang online gambling operations were housed abroad.”

Organization running unregulated online gambling businesses:
Online wagers were placed through channels including cryptocurrency exchanges and sent from a number of bank accounts in mainland China to Macau.

The Macau police had good reason to think “that the criminal organization had gained to the tune of at least CNY25 million from the internet gambling activities” in this regard.

The organization “had an operational base in a luxurious flat in Macau’s ZAPE area, on the city’s peninsula, in addition to many additional bases dispersed across mainland China and internationally,” the Macau police spokesperson said in a statement, but he did not specifically mention Macau.