A “Cotai casino” is estimated to have suffered a loss of “approximately HKD1.62 million” (US$207,087) from a gaming chip fraud case it reported to the police on Saturday night, said Macau Judiciary Police spokeswoman Lei Hon Nei in a Tuesday press briefing. The case is said to involve originally legitimate house chips, that had been tampered with, to indicate a higher face value.
Allegedly doctored gaming chips – each carrying what seemed to be a face value of HKD10,000 – had been used by an alleged “criminal group”, according to Ms Lei. Following the crime report by the casino operator, which was not named by the police, officers had arrested within the city five men from mainland China for alleged involvement in fraud and involvement in a criminal group. They have all denied wrongdoing, according to the police.
The Judiciary Police believed that the suspected criminal group had “rejigged” several legitimate gaming chips of the casino operator that originally carried a face value of only HKD100 each, into HKD10,000 each.
Ms Lei did not elaborate on how such tampering had been attempted. The police did confirm each chip had an RFID security tag embedded within it. But the Judiciary Police spokeswoman noted that the alleged criminal group had exploited the “similarity of colour” between the HKD100 face-value gaming chips and the HKD10,000 chips.
Some of the tampered gaming chips were allegedly used by four suspects for play at baccarat tables, with a subsequent conversion of chips for cash. At circa 10.30pm on Saturday, the play and cashing out took place via two baccarat tables at least. The suspects managed to cash out an aggregate of HKD1.22 million, before their ploy was detected by the dealers on duty, said Ms Lei, citing the casino surveillance record.
One other suspect was caught when he attempted to exchange three fraudulent gaming chips into cash at a cage, the police spokeswoman added.
The Judiciary Police managed to gather a total of 33 fraudulent gaming chips found at the Cotai casino.
The police believed that the criminal group had accomplices on the mainland. Law enforcement on the mainland had already taken action in the Guangdong cities of Zhuhai and Zhongshan, arresting three suspects that were allegedly working in the same group.
At least one suspect was still at large for their role in the chip fraud case, said Ms Lei. The case was still being investigated, she added.
