Staggering turnover

Chinese state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) has disclosed that online platforms controlled by jailed Macau gambling kingpin Alvin Chau’s Suncity Group generated RMB300bn ($42bn) in turnover from mainland China customers.

update comes from data seized by mainland Chinese authorities after Chau’s arrest

CCTV’s update on Monday comes from data seized by mainland Chinese authorities after Chau’s arrest in November 2021. The new information revealed Suncity raked in US$42bn from 2015 to 2019, with Chau allegedly pocketing RMB8.7bn ($1.22.bn).

CCTV reignited the interest in Chau after a survey conducted last month gained over two million votes to push the junket king into China’s “Top 10 Cases of 2023.”

The Court of First Instance in China’s Special Administrative Region (SAR) of Macau sentenced Chau to 18 years in prison in January 2023. His trial revealed that links between Suncity and criminal gambling groups were on a large scale and operational since 2007.

According to the Macau Daily Times on Monday, part of Suncity’s massive earning power came via commissions and dividends used to entice individuals to serve as agents.

Under the Suncity brand, the agents organized and recruited mainland Chinese citizens to use the firm’s online gambling platforms in the Philippines and other countries, or to travel to VIP rooms at Suncity casinos in Macau to gamble.

Massive operation

To become an agent, individuals were required to buy shares in Suncity for HKD5m ($639,813). The monthly target for the agents, or transcoding volume as the Times stated, was HDK50m ($6.39m).

CCTV reported that Suncity successfully recruited 283 Chinese shareholder agents, while it also established firms in China to offer agents and gamblers with assets in exchange for “gambling credit, chips and other services, and to recover gambling debts.”

As new details come to light, the scale and sophistication of Suncity’s criminal operation beggar’s belief.

To stay under the radar and avoid crackdowns by law enforcement, Suncity also used illicit channels like underground banks for taking in and settling gambling funds.

The group also established or offered services and technical support in China that included gambler management and marketing and promotion firms, the Times states, “that helped conceal the entire criminal network.”

Still fighting

While Chau might be under lock and key for 18 years for alleged criminal association and illegal gambling, it hasn’t stopped him appealing his sentence.

tripled the damages Chau and other defendants owe the SAR’s government

In October 2023, the Macau appeals court not only upheld his sentence, but also tripled the damages Chau and other defendants owe the SAR’s government, to HKD25bn ($3.19bn).

In December, a final appeals court in the SAR tossed a submission by some defendants for protection against unlawful and indefinite imprisonment, and instead lengthened their sentences. According to media reports, Chau and some defendants have made independent applications to the final appeals court and “are currently awaiting a final judgement.”