Expectation of privacy In an odd decision out of Canada, a provincial level Supreme Court has ruled that a violent offender gambling at a public casino has an expectation of privacy when using his cellular phone to text despite the fact that gamblers are notified of being under surveillance when entering casinos. The decision may […]
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 reporting […]
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 and […]
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 rollers […]
According to a report released by McAfee Labs, available here entitled “Jackpot! Money Laundering Through Online Gambling,” the global online gambling sector appears to be rife with money laundering problems and Bitcoin is facilitating it. It may be that money laundering is happening on a large scale through unlicensed online gambling websites but the report itself […]
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, 劉鑾雄, and Stephen Lo Kit-sing, 羅傑承, each received a sentence of five years and three months in prison and were sentenced in absentia. Mr. Lau is the […]
Money laundering For junket operators Bloomberg has a great story on the rise and fall of Carson Yeung Ka-shing, the Hong Kong businessman and owner of the Birmingham City football club, convicted earlier this week of  laundering $93 million through, inter alia, junket operators and casinos in Macau. Mr. Yeung was arrested in June 2011, […]
Money laundering is more prevalent than elsewhere According to a recent survey of business people who operate and do business in Hong Kong and Macau, money laundering is a huge problem and in fact, is more prevalent there than anywhere else in the world. The results of the survey which were reported in South China Morning […]
Increased pressure on Macau’s casinos Macau is facing a delicate balancing act – how to satisfy mounting international demands to crack down on money laundering and other criminal activities in its $38 billion gambling industry, without killing the goose that lays the golden egg. Finding a way of regulating the junket operators, which bring in […]
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 -Â Cheung Chi Tai. Mr. Cheung is also alleged to have had […]