Macau’s economic “rebound” and a “significant increase” in the number of post-pandemic visitor arrivals were cited as key factors in the 11.8-percent increase in gaming sector suspicious transaction reports (STRs) filed in full-year 2024.
That is according to the Financial Intelligence Office – a unit of Macau’s Unitary Police Service – in an emailed reply to GGRAsia’s enquiry.
The office also cited the “continuous investment of resources” in detecting suspicious transactions by reporting entities in the gaming sector as another reason for the report tally rising year-on-year.
The 3,837 gaming sector STRs filed in 2024 also marked the most for a 12-month period since record-keeping by the office began in 2006.
“The STRs reported by the gaming sector involved different types of gaming activities such as chips conversion without or with minimal gaming activities, chips conversion on behalf of third parties, currency exchanges/cash conversion, etc,” stated the office, referring to the commonest reasons for the gaming sector STRs filed last year.
Those scenarios have been the most common ones since 2019, the office noted to GGRAsia.
It did not clarify – in response to GGRAsia’s specific enquiry – whether any of the gaming sector STRs had been reported to the Public Prosecutions Office for further investigation in the past year.
