Macau saw a 56.7-percent year-on-year increase in the number of suspicious transaction reports (STRs) filed by the city’s gaming sector in the first six months of this year, fuelling the sharp rise in overall STRs for reportable sectors in the city during the period.
That is according to the latest data released by Macau’s Financial Intelligence Office. The gaming industry logged 2,181 STRs in the six months to June 30, compared to 1,392 in the same period last year.
The January to June STRs across all sectors tallied 2,879, a 51.2-percent year-on-year increase. The casino sector accounted for 75.8 percent of all such reports in the first six months of 2024.
The office gave no commentary on why the number of casino-sector STRs went up year-on-year. Judged quarter-on-quarter, the second quarter casino-sector STRs tallied 1,056, down by 6.1 percent from the 1,125 reported in the first quarter.
The Macau casino sector had recorded 3,431 STRs for full-year 2023, the most for a 12-month period since data were first published in 2006.
Common triggers to the 2023 casino STRs had been “conversion of chips without or with minimal gaming activities”, “conversion of chips on behalf of third parties”, and “exchange of currency/cash conversion”, the office told GGRAsia previously. Such triggers have been consistent throughout 2019 to 2023.
