Macau: suspicious gaming transactions reach a new record high in 2023

The gaming industry accounted for 3,431 suspicious transaction reports for full-year 2023, the most for a 12-month period since record-keeping began in 2006.

Macau.- Macau’s Financial Intelligence Office has reported that the number of Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) filed by casino operators grew from 1,177 in 2022 to 3,431 in 2023. This represented 74.4 per cent of all STRs (4,614).

This figure was the highest since the Office began publishing data on STRs in 2006.

Financial institutions and insurance companies reported a marginal increase in flagged transactions from 765 to 887. The other institutions category accounted for 226 reports, up 13 per cent. The Office of Financial Intelligence referred 116 communications to the Prosecutor’s Office in 2023.

Macau’s gross gaming revenue (GGR) for 2023 was MOP183.06bn. That’s a rise of 333.8 per cent when compared to 2022. The rise was attributed to the end of travel and other Covid-19-related restrictions last January.

The Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) reported that the city registered 28m visitor arrivals in 2023, with a daily average of circa 77,000 tourists. This figure was equivalent to 70 per cent of pre-pandemic 2019 levels.