Tweet The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN“) has fined a former manger of a US casino over anti-money laundering compliance violations. According to the Wall Street Journal, George Que, a former manger of VIP services at Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino, assisted high rollers at the casino to gamble outside of the Bank Secrecy Act […]
Tweet According to this report, the People’s Bank of China has signed a Memorandum with the Monetary Authority of Macau to start to take steps to address money laundering in Macau’s casinos. The share price of casino companies operating in Macau fell on the news of the Memorandum. According to a recent survey of business people who operate […]
Tweet Here are some interesting facts on high roller gamblers who frequent Macau casinos: 90% of the gamblers in Macau are from China. 1% of players in Macau, the high rollers, account for 30% of annual gross gaming revenue. The economy of Macau is entirely dependent upon gambling, players from China and specifically, the high […]
Tweet Acquisition of PokerStars A Canadian company, Amaya Gaming Group Inc., announced it has entered into a $4.9 billion deal to acquire all of the shares of Oldford Group, the Isle of Man company that operates PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. PokerStars was founded by Canadian Isai Scheinberg. Amaya said that it believes the transaction […]
Tweet Surprising criminal conviction of two Hong Kong tycoons In a surprising decision, the Macau Court of First Instance has convicted two high-profile Hong Kong businessmen of money laundering. Joseph Lau Luen-hung, and Stephen Lo Kit-sing, each received a sentence of five years and three months in prison and were sentenced in absentia. Mr. Lau […]
Tweet Carson Yeung, the Hong Kong tycoon who is on trial in Hong Kong for alleged money laundering admitted in Court that he accepted 12 wire transfers totalling approximately $2 million in funds from a Macau casino that were sent by an alleged Triad boss – Cheung Chi Tai. Mr. Cheung is also alleged to […]
Tweet Anti-money laundering investigation Caesars Entertainment Corp. said today that FinCEN is investigating it for potential violations of the Bank Secrecy Act over anti-money laundering compliance issues. The statement was made in its filings with the Securities Exchange Commission. According to the statement, FinCEN is considering whether to assess a civil penalty or take enforcement […]
Tweet This article was originally published in Asia Gambling Brief. Macau junket operators of casino VIP rooms working on image Some of Macau’s biggest junket operators — also known as VIP gambling promoters — are planning to exhibit at next month’s Macau Gaming Show in a sign this integral part of the local gaming scene […]
Tweet 2013 Annual Report In its 2013 Annual Report, a U.S. Congressional Executive Commission has urged Macau to develop law enforcement mechanisms to combat money laundering at its casinos. The Congressional members found that the gambling industry in Macau was reportedly tied to widespread corruption and the laundering of large amounts of money out of […]
Tweet The U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ“) announced that it has resolved its money laundering investigation into the Las Vegas Sands Corp. pursuant to which Sands will pay US$47 million to avoid criminal prosecution in connection with funds gambled by high rollers at its Venetian casino in Las Vegas. The DOJ was investigating Sands for failure to […]