Illegal gambling in Macau: 36,000 illegal sites taken down in H1

Some of the sites were allegedly pretending to be the websites of Macau’s legal gambling operators.

Macau.- The Office of the Secretary for Security in Macau has reportedly claimed that 36,000 illegal gambling websites were taken down in the first half of 2024. It said some pretended to be sites belonging to Macau’s gaming operators, which “not only undermines the safety of public property but also hurts the image of Macau’s gaming industry.”

In its report, the Office of the Secretary for Security said it had been enhancing cooperation with the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau. It reported that gaming-related crimes rose 61.8 per cent year-on-year to 683 in the first half of the year. The figure remained 29.4 per cent lower than in 2019. 

Authorities attributed the rise to the increase in visitor traffic and the recovery of the gaming industry. Cumulatively, Macau received nearly 19.75 million visitors in the first seven months of the year. The figure was up by 37.1 per cent compared to the same period last year. 

Casino-related scams accounted for 23.3 per cent of cases, with 159 instances. That’s an increase of 67.4 per cent in year-on-year terms. Among these cases, 82 instances involved currency exchange, reflecting a 90.7 per cent rise.

There were also 262 other instances of unlicensed money exchange in the first half of the year outside of casinos, which aren’t included in the count of gaming-related incidents. Police conducted checks on 2,215 people in connection with illicit money exchange.

Some 122 cases of usury, or loan sharking, linked to gambling were detected, an increase of 293.5 per cent in year-on-year terms. Police dealt with 23 cases of unlawful detention related to gambling.

The report also mentioned a special operation named Break Peak in collaboration with mainland China and Hong Kong to crack down on a cross-border syndicate involved in illegal online gambling.

The government has proposed a new gambling law to combat illegal online gambling activities. The draft legislation, intended to replace the existing Illegal Gambling Law (Law 8/96/m), passed its initial reading at the Legislative Assembly of Macau in February and is expected to reach the legislature for a final vote before the end of the year.