A Cotai casino suffered a “loss” of nearly HKD5.7-million (about US$723,743) on Monday, after suspects successfully used 493 fraudulent chips each with a face value of HKD10,000, either in betting with the fraudulent chips or exchanging them with other gamblers in the casino who also gambled with those chips, reported local Chinese-language media outlets, citing the Judiciary Police.
The police did not identify the casino property involved, according to the media reports. Police have also not ruled out the local industry’s losses from the scam could be higher than estimated, if chips were passed elsewhere.
Eight people are thought to have been involved. Six left Macau on Monday night, bound for mainland China’s Guangdong province via the Border Gate, after two men – mainland residents – had been arrested.
Police said the scam was detected when a table games dealer noticed the “texture” – the feel to the touch – of 10 chips passed to the dealer seemed inauthentic. The chips concerned were then electronically assessed by the casino, and found not to have identification tags inside them.
The two suspects detained, were held on-site.
Of the six who fled before they could be detained, one or more suspect disposed of other fake chips in a waste bin. Police searched a waste-incineration centre, and found more than 100 fraudulent chips, each with a HKD10,000 face value.
In total, 804 fraudulent chips were seized by the authorities.
