Macau gambling kingpin Alvin Chau jailed for 18 years

• Chau was found guilty on more than 100 counts and given an 18-year prison term.
• Found guilty in case involving unlawful bets totaling HK$823 billion.
• Macau’s junket population had been declining steadily before Chau’s arrest.

Alvin Chau, the leader of the illicit gambling industry in Macau, was found guilty on more than 100 counts and given an 18-year prison term.

The 48-year-old was found guilty in a case involving unlawful bets totaling HK$823.7 billion ($105 billion; £85.7 billion).

Chau, a well-known and colorful player in the neighborhood gaming business, has refuted the accusations.

Only one Chinese city—Macau, a former Portuguese colony—allows casino gaming.

Suncity Group’s chairman and founder was Chau. It was the largest provider of organized tours to casinos for rich gamblers in Macau.

It organized for high rollers from the Chinese mainland to visit Macau and gamble there while also providing loans to them.

Additionally, it ran VIP rooms around the casinos in Macau and gathered debts for the casinos.

Days after being arrested, the businessman known as “Junket King” resigned in December 2021.

Chau was charged with founding and running a criminal organization that enabled unreported wagers. According to them, the government missed out on more than HK$8.26 billion in tax revenue as a result.

The most of the charges were upheld by the court, but Chau was cleared of the money laundering charge. Twenty additional defendants are involved in the prominent case.

Coronavirus limitations and the Chinese government’s crackdown on money transfers out of the mainland have both had a significant negative impact on the gambling business.

In conjunction with Chau’s case, a court in the eastern Chinese city of Wenzhou imprisoned over 30 individuals in September for international gambling.

After Chau’s arrest, Suncity shut all of its VIP rooms. But even before that, Macau’s junket population had been steadily declining. According to government statistics, there are currently only 36 junket operators left, down from 100 in 2019.

Chau is a well-known figure in the Chinese-speaking world, and tabloids love him because of their obsession with his relationships. He has slicked-back hair and tanned complexion.

Local media labelled him ‘Washing Rice Wa” after a sitcom character – though the name can also be seen as an euphemism for money laundering.

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