2.4 Percent Increase in Crime Cases Related to Gaming in Macau: Police Report 2017

In the year 2017, Macau, a gaming hub of the world, recorded approximately 4,714 crimes related to gaming. This data was recently revealed by the Judiciary Police of the city during a press conference. This indicated a 2.4 percent increase in the crime figure, which was recorded at 4,602 in 2016.

 

According to Judiciary Police, a case is considered to be related to gaming when it takes place either inside or in the close vicinity of a casino. Gaming cases related to suspected usury, that is, illegal lending of funds, also called ‘loan-sharking’, saw a decrease of 2.9 percent in 2017 and were recorded at 428.

 

In the previous year (2017), 464 cases of alleged unlawful detention related to gaming were recorded. This reflected a decrease of 7.8% when compared to the figure in 2016. In Macau, these cases are usually associated with gambling-related loan-sharking.

 

While acknowledging the overall rise in alleged gaming-related crime cases in Macau, the Judiciary Police said that they had observed a rise in multiple types of crimes related to gaming in the recent years. It announced that readjustments had been made to the strategy for controlling such crimes and this had helped dismantle various criminal groups in 2017.

 

Some emergency bodies in Macau joined the Police in a drill that involved a mock public armed robbery at the famous Galaxy Macau resort recently. Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd. is responsible for operating this casino resort. According to the government, the police had designed this drill for testing if the emergency public divisions and the regional casino industry could coordinate and manage a suitable response to all kinds of major incidents.

 

This drill was organized just a few days after casino chips worth US$6.1 million (HKD47.9 million) were stolen from the popular casino property ‘Wynn Macau’. The property is located on the peninsula of the city and under the operation of Wynn Macau Ltd. The two horrifying attacks in 2017 triggered the authorities in Macau to organize this drill. The attacks involved gaming properties located in Las Vegas and the Philippines.

 

As per data provided by the official casino regulator of Macau, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, the total casino GGR (gross gaming revenue) of the city was up by 19.1% in 2017 in comparison to 2016.