Alvin Chau Sentenced to 18 Years in Jail
The most prominent player within the network of Macau junket operators has been sentenced to 18 years in jail for violating Chinese financial regulations with his businesses. The enormous sentence handed down last week has ended a tumultuous saga within the international casino hub, a case that shocked the entire industry and eroded the dominance of a one of its wealthiest entrepreneurs.
The casino industry in Macau has been upended with the obliteration of junket operators – a key player within the hyper-growth Macau economy, responsible for funneling billions of dollars of wealthy Chinese gamblers cash into the city, and onto the tables of Macau’s most lavish casinos. ©stevepb/Pixabay
Alvin Chau was a businessman and billionaire from Hong Kong who retained the role of CEO and major shareholder of Suncity Group, one of the largest junket operators in the world. At its height, the junket operators of Macau were responsible for generating the vast majority of the revenues for Macau, and fundamentally shaped the growth of the city by fueling cash from mainland China onto the most lavish casino tables across the city. The curious phenomenon of junket operators has come crashing down to earth with this harsh sentence for its first son Alvin Chau, after so long living in the grey clouds of legal ambiguity.
Prosecutors did not hold back when pursuing Alvin Chau, and charged him with a whopping 289 counts of fraud, money laundering and breaches of the state gambling law. This level of crime is unprecedented in Macau courts, and despite the familiarity that many of the city’s officials had with Alvin Chau and his Suncity Group, the company has been classified as a crime syndicate and entirely unlawful.
The trial of Alvin Chau has been going for some 4 months, focused on the un-documented sums of money that have been ploughed through his enterprise. The totals are staggeringly high – an estimated $108 billion has been funneled through junkets over the past 8 years. This activity has defrauded the Macau tax authorities out of some $1 billion in tax revenues.
The Legacy of Alvin Chau
Alvin Chau was a major player in the Macau casino industry, as the CEO and major shareholder of Suncity Group, one of the largest junket operators in the world. Suncity Group became the biggest junket operators in Macau, which is the world’s largest gambling destination and a significant contributor to the global casino industry. Through Suncity, Chau played a major role in expanding the global market share of Macau’s casino industry by bringing in high-stakes gamblers from around the world, particularly from mainland China. Suncity’s VIP gambling rooms in Macau’s casinos have helped to attract a large number of wealthy Chinese gamblers, which has been a key driver of the growth of the Macau casino industry.
Additionally, Chau was instrumental in expanding the reach of Suncity by opening new VIP rooms in casinos in other countries, such as the Philippines and Vietnam, which will helped to further increase the global market share of Macau’s casino industry. Chau’s success in the casino industry did also make him one of the wealthiest people in Hong Kong, and he was well known for his philanthropic activities and high-profile personal life which included mingling with the wealthiest businessman in Asia, politicians, and celebrities alike.
Beijing has begun to apply pressure on junket operators in Macau, such as Suncity Group, through new regulations and direct intervention through legal amendments. This is because the Chinese government is concerned about the potential for money laundering and other illicit activities that may be associated with the junket industry.
Overall, Beijing’s efforts to apply pressure on junket operators through new regulation and direct intervention have led to a complete obliteration of junket operators in Macau, and have made it impossible for them to operate in the region. This has had a negative impact on the Macau casino industry which is heavily dependent on the junket industry for its gross gaming revenue from mainland China.
