GGRAsia – Macau police arrest suspect in US$12mln junket theft

Macau police arrest suspect in US$12mln junket theft

Sep 16, 2021 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

The authorities in Macau have arrested an employee of one of the city’s VIP casino rooms, for the alleged theft of about MOP95.5 million (US$11.9 million) in deposits from over 70 clients. The local woman was suspected of using her employment position, promising to offer the club’s patrons a daily interest rate of 1.1 percent.

The woman was said to be employed in a VIP club at a casino in Cotai, according to the Judiciary Police. The authorities were alerted by two of the victims, who were not able to withdraw their deposits, representing an aggregate amount of MOP9 million.

According to the police, the suspect said she had been instructed by one of the managing partners in the VIP room to transfer the deposits to other accounts. Her case was sent to the city’s Public Prosecutions Office for follow-up. The authorities said they were still trying to establish the whereabouts of other suspects in the case.

In recent years, Macau recorded several high-profile cases of alleged theft in casinos of large amounts of deposits taken from members of the public, usually involving junket operators.

Until recently, it was common for junkets in Macau to raise capital to finance their rolling chip programmes by offering private investors above-market interest rates for their deposits.

The Macau government announced on Tuesday proposed changes to the city’s gaming law framework. The document suggests Macau’s gaming law should include penalties for illegal taking of deposits from the general public by either casino concessionaires, their shareholders, or employees. It suggests offenders could face a sentence of up to five years in prison.

The ideas will be subject to public consultation, starting from Wednesday (September 15) and running until October 29.