Suspicious transaction reports (STRs) filed by Macau gaming operators rose by nearly a third year-on-year in the first nine months of this year.
That is according to data from the city’s Financial Intelligence Office. Such reports tallied 3,041 in the calendar year to September 30, an increase of 30.2 percent on the 2,335 in the same time span in 2023.
STRs from gaming businesses accounted for 73.8 percent of Macau’s total 4,118 flagged transactions in the first nine months this time, about the same proportion as in the total 3,178 suspect transactions from all sectors in the opening nine months of 2023.
Across the latest announced period, there were 843 STRs from financial institutions and insurance companies, i.e., 20.5 percent of the total. That was a rise of 36.6 percent year-on-year on the last-year reporting period’s 617 instances.
“Other institutions” made up 234 reports or 5.7 percent of the latest total, and were up by 3.5 percent on the 226 in the first nine months of 2023
The 29.6 percent year-on-year rise in all forms of STRs this time was “mainly due to the increase in the number of STRs reported by the financial sector and the gaming sector,” stated the Financial Intelligence Office.
The office comes under Macau’s Unitary Police Service. The latter combines the scope of the work of the Judiciary Police and of the Public Security Police.
According to existing guidelines for the gaming sector – issued by the city’s casino regulator, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau and valid since January 2019 – suspicious transactions are defined as those related to gambling operations that exhibit unusual traits or complexity, indicating signs of money laundering or terrorism financing.
Reporting entities within the sector are required to register such suspicious transactions, regardless of the value of the relevant trade.
