Macau sees rise in gaming-related crimes in 2024

01/21/25

Gaming-related crimes in Macau rose 28.6 per cent year-on-year.

Macau.- The Judiciary Police (PJ) in Macau has reported that gaming-related crimes rose by 28.6 per cent year-on-year to 1,423 in 2024. The number was 34 per cent lower than in 2019.

The PJ noted there were 252 cases involving illegal gambling loans and some 47 cases of related unlawful detentions. Both figures were higher than those in 2023 but lower than in 2019.

Since the new legislation on gambling crimes entered into force last October, a total of 120 people have been arrested in connection with unlicensed foreign exchange and the PJ seized over MOP11m (US$1.4m) in cash and gaming chips.

The PJ also recorded 354 cases of telephone fraud, down 13 per cent year-on-year. However, online fraud cases increased by 4 per cent. However, the increase in 2024 was much smaller compared to the previous year, where the growth rate was 42.8 per cent. Authorities attributed the decline to anti-fraud campaigns carried out by the government to mitigate the growth of such crimes.

There were also 689 cases of phishing messages and fraudulent websites designed to steal credit card information, up 1.1 per cent in year-on-year terms. These scams caused over MOP14m (US$1.8m) in losses to both businesses and people, making them the largest-growing category of online crime in the region.

Macau’s Financial Intelligence Office reports a rise in gaming-related suspicious transactions in 2024

In related news, the Financial Intelligence Office (FIO) reported that casino operators filed 3,837 Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) in full-year 2024, an increase of 11.8 per cent year-on-year. Gaming accounted for 73.2 per cent of all STRs. The figure compares with 3,431 STRs reports in 2023, when gaming accounted for 74.4 per cent of the total.

Suspicious transaction reports across all sectors totalled 5,245 in the reported period, up 13.7 per cent from 4,614 in 2023. According to authorities, the change was mainly due to the increase in the number of STRs reported by the financial sector.

Financial and insurance institutions accounted for 1,097 reports, 20.9 per cent of the total and a rise of 23.7 per cent in year-on-year terms. The other institutions category accounted for 311 reports or 5.9 per cent of the total, up 5.07 per cent.

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