MACAU BUSINESS By Paolo A. Azevedo
Big Squeeze T
M Alvin Chau
Jeju – the new Singapore
he arrest warrant issued on November 26 by authorities in Zhejiang province’s Wenzhou city for Suncity Group boss Alvin Chau Cheok Wa immediately made headlines worldwide. Wenzhou’s Prosecutor General’s Office probed a
Jeju will be as big as Singapore in terms of Gross Gaming Revenue, predicts Lawrence Teo. The Chief Operations Officer and Vice President of Dream Tower, the tallest Integrated Resort under construction on the Korean destination island, explains to Macau Business why Lotte Tour decided to enter the casino business and create a landmark. All bets are on making the casino resort the crown of the tourism jewel the company has been dominating for four decades
case concerning a cross-border gambling crime syndicate since July 2020, and has recently found Mr Chau headed the syndicate that “causes severe damages to the social order of the country”, according to a report by Chinese state-owned media
huanqiu.com. It was not the first time Chau’s name was mentioned by mainland media regarding illegal gambling-related activities. In July 2019, the CEO of Macau’s top junket operator was accused in Xinhua-owned Economic Information Daily of targeting mainland citizens with online gaming and proxy-betting operations based out of the Philippines and Cambodia. Back then Alvin Chau denied wrongdoing but apologized for any inconvenience caused to the Macau Government.
This time the allegations are much more serious and
detailed. According to Wenzhou authorities, Mr Chau has developed a network of mainland Chinese agents and representatives, who helped him to organize trips for Mainland Chinese citizens to gamble at casinos run by his firms outside of the mainland through providing credits, transportation service and technology support for the gamblers.
acau Business – From Lotte World, a major recreational complex [with the world’s largest indoor theme park, in Seoul] to an integrated resort with casino in Jeju. A different beast. A
natural evolution? Lawrence Teo – Business is the same. But building
a landmark. M. B. – The group [Lotte] has created other landmarks in different types of business. Why would this be different? L. T. – Yes, Lotte Group has already created
The crime syndicate headed by Alvin Chau has also
established asset management firms to help Mainland Chinese gamblers for cross-border capital transfer, recover unsettled debts from gamblers and others,
huanqiu.com reported, adding the syndicate also leveraged the illegal underground banking channels to provide capital settlement service for gamblers. It was estimated that the crime syndicate, comprising 199
shareholder-level representatives and more than 12,000 agents for gambling promotion in the mainland, has developed a network of over 80,000 Mainland Chinese gamblers, the report added. Hours into the announcement Macau authorities took the
Suncity founder and other affiliates to the police station for investigation. Mr Chau and ten others were detained. The other 10 suspects of the case, either Macau or Hong
Kong residents, are senior executives of a company, but PJ did not comment whether all of them are Suncity executives. On November 28, the Macau Judiciary Police announced that they had built their own case, independently of the Wenzhou investigation, dating back to August 2019. Back then based on intelligence collection the PJ learned that a crime syndicate headed by Alvin Chau set up overseas gambling platforms leveraging his junket operations in Macau and invited Mainland Chinese residents to engage in illegal online gambling activities, a PJ spokesperson indicated. The probe was elevated to a special case with an in-depth
investigation in April 2020, local authorities added. The illicit profits gained by the crime syndicate were
downtown Seoul and Lotte Super Tower. We’re trying 18 OCTOBER 2017
covered and transferred through the accounts of Mr Chau’s junket operation, underground banking and other illegal channels, he continued. Alvin Chau was placed under preventive detention in Coloane Prison on November 29 following a decision by a local magistrate.
Another blow to an ‘ailing industry’
The police operation surrounding the top management of junket operator Suncity will drive even more VIP players to move away from junket agents to direct VIP or premium mass, however, the sector was already in free fall due to increased regulatory scrutiny, analysts stated. ‘We expect the sector to react negatively, but that the fundamental impact is likely manageable given the already low expectations for the VIP segment. We think Junket VIP customers could disassociate themselves from junket operators and go direct with concessionaires as direct VIP or
18 JANUARY 2022
to do the Dream Tower in Jeju. Lotte here is being just a family company; we’re a different company [Lotte Tour]. It’s not going to be [just] the tallest and the largest building in Jeju, that’s just the hardware. We say that a landmark should be the most visited destination, where tourists will go to eat, shop and maybe [visit] our observation deck. A must-visit point destination. Because of the hardware, and also the software.
M. B. – What are the main goals that you definitely
want to achieve with this Integrated Resort (IR)? L. T. – Number one EBIDTA on IR in Korea. There’s
The detention of Suncity founder Alvin Chau sent shockwaves just days after the key top court verdict on the Dore case. The already ailing junket industry is set to go further south
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