Macau Casino Crimes rise as Profits continue falling

The crackdown on corruption and crime continues in China, with Macau being one of the most-heavily targeted areas by authorites. But an unintended consequence of this crackdown is that casino-related crimes are now rising in Macau.

Local police say that there have been 67 illegal detentions in Macau this year, up from 37 at the same point last year. Most of these arrests are attributed to Chinese triads trying to force debt collection, which is interesting when considering that Macau casino revenue has fallen sharply in the past year.

Additionally, there have been more arson attacks and forgery cases, and local authorities say that these are “crimes jeopardizing the territory.” Going further, the spike in crime could hamper the grand opening of the Galaxy Macau resort on the Cotai Strip next month.

As SMPC reports, Macau is having trouble adjusting its gambling-dominated economy to meet the vision of President Xi Jinping and his staff. The latter would like to see Macau diversify its economy to include more resort-style and family-friendly offerings.

In the past, Macau heavily leaned on high stakes gamblers, brought over from the Chinese mainland via junket companies. Junkets arrange trips, provide loans and collect debts from high rollers, with the latter sometimes being a murky business. But amid the crackdown in China, these junkets and their sometimes-violent methods have come under fire.

It’s now believed that as these junket operators begin dissipating, organized crime will rely on other means to make their money, including illegal detentions and loan sharking. However, Macau’s secretary for security, Wong Sio-chak, doesn’t believe this is the case while stressing that increased crime “still does not provide enough evidence that the current adjustment in the gaming industry has affected Macau’s social public security.”

Whatever the case may be, it’s clear that China’s tightening legal restrictions on their mainland and Macau are having some adverse effects on the gambling hub. It’s still questionable as to when things will get better in the declining gaming destination, although Macau is still far and above the world’s most-popular casino spot. Assuming they can diversify their offerings like the government wants, perhaps Macau can stabilize their revenue and remain a prime place for casino goers.