Macau Casinos Report Almost 4K Suspicious Transaction Reports in 2024
- 18 Jan 2025
- Gambling News
Last year, casinos in Macau documented almost 4,000 instances of questionable money transactions on their gaming floors.
On Wednesday, Macau's Financial Intelligence Office announced that casinos submitted 3,837 Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs). That indicated a 12% annual increase in the quantity of forms submitted.
The Financial Intelligence Office of the city is responsible for preventing and addressing money laundering and terrorist financing crimes. The agency additionally oversees the international movement of cash and negotiable instruments such as checks, money orders, traveler's checks, postal orders, and bonds.
Casinos must file large-sum transaction reports whenever an individual conducts a transaction of MOP500K (US$62,325) or higher within a 24-hour timeframe. The six gaming operators are also required to file an STR when a cage employee detects suspicious behavior from the individual wanting to carry out the transaction, no matter the amount of money at stake.
Suspicions regarding money laundering or terrorism financing are automatic STR prompts. Cashiers mandated to complete training on suspicious transactions must not alert the customer that their transaction triggered a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) filing.
Increased Consciousness
Macau is a significantly altered version of itself compared to what it was prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although casino gambling serves as the economic engine for the Chinese Special Administrative Region, President Xi Jinping of the People's Republic has directed the local government and Judiciary Police to enhance oversight of junket groups during the global health crisis.
Junkets, or VIP travel facilitators, maintained enduring collaborations with the casinos in Macau. Junkets offered expensive excursions, typically exceeding $100K, to the elite of the mainland. The packages included premium travel and lodging, along with a pile of gaming chips approximately matching the overall cost of the travel package for gambling in exclusive high-roller areas.
The junkets and casinos collectively received a portion of the net income earned from the VIP players. Xi noted that the significant influx of capital from the mainland into the tax haven posed threats to national security.
Following Macau's successful prosecution of Alvin Chau in 2023, who was then the leading figure of the junket industry across Asia, and his subsequent 18-year prison sentence in China, almost every other junket company departed from Macau.
The casinos remain under strict oversight from local police officials from the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau. This is likely the reason there were 406 additional STR filings last year compared to 2023.
Casinos represented 73.2% of the 5,245 total STR submissions received by the Financial Intelligence Office. Banks and insurance firms followed closely at 20.9% with 1,097 submissions. “Other entities” comprised the remaining 5.9%.
STR Signals
Representatives of the Macau casino sector stated that the majority of the STR reports submitted by the resorts concerned gamblers acquiring gaming chips but participating in minimal or no gambling. The “transference of chips with little to no gaming activities” was a significant indicator that someone might be attempting to wash illicit money.
Casinos submitted numerous STRs regarding gaming chips being redeemed by someone other than the original purchaser who bought them with cash, suggesting a potential financial transfer between parties.
