{"id":16225,"date":"2021-03-25T15:10:27","date_gmt":"2021-03-25T15:10:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=16225"},"modified":"2026-04-23T20:50:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T23:50:53","slug":"us-recognises-macaus-tighter-anti-money-laundering-controls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/us-recognises-macaus-tighter-anti-money-laundering-controls","title":{"rendered":"US recognises Macau’s tighter anti-money laundering controls"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The US Department of State has reported that Macau has started to “take anti-money laundering cases more seriously.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Macau.- The US Department of State’s 2021 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR)<\/strong> notes that the Macau government has made great strides in its anti-money laundering controls<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some 2,224 suspicious transaction reports were received by the Macau Financial Intelligence Office in 2020. According to the INCSR, 54.6 per cent <\/strong>stemmed from the gaming sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report also indicates that “in 2019, Macau prosecuted over 20 per cent of filed anti-money laundering cases<\/strong> (10 out of 48), a significant improvement from its historical prosecutorial rate <\/strong>of one to five per cent.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Government officials believe the primary sources of laundered funds are gaming-related crime<\/strong>, property offences and fraud, and that Macau is likely a transit point and an end destination for such funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the US Department of State, the anonymity gained through using junket operators<\/strong> and the absence of currency and exchange controls, are some of the weaknesses still faced by Macau.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gaming academic Ryan Ho Hong Wai<\/strong>\u00a0has recently called for Macau to make a \u201cclear legal definition\u201d to clarify the role of sub-agents in Macau<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Macau\u2019s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ)<\/strong>\u00a0has reported that while in 2013 there were 235 junket operators, there are now only\u00a085 authorised to operate in the Special Administrative Region (SAR)<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The US Department of State has reported that Macau has started to “take anti-money laundering cases more seriously.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":16227,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The US Department of State's 2021 INCSR indicates Macau has significantly improved its anti-money laundering (AML) controls, with over half of suspicious transaction reports (STRs) originating from the gaming sector and a notable increase in prosecution rates. Despite this progress, challenges persist, including the anonymity provided by junket operators and the absence of robust currency controls, alongside a substantial reduction in licensed junket operators.","focusai_entities":"US Department of State, Macau Financial Intelligence Office, Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ), Ryan Ho Hong Wai","focusai_location":"Macau, United States","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.9), tech_data (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (1.0), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Junket Operator Impact","query":"How will the significant reduction in licensed junket operators in Macau impact VIP GGR and the operational models of concessionaires, particularly concerning capital flows and player acquisition strategies?"},{"label":"AML Enforcement Outlook","query":"What specific enhancements to Macau's regulatory compliance and governance frameworks are anticipated following the US Department of State's report, and how might these affect B2B\/B2C licensing and operational due diligence?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16338,154,158],"tags":[23911,23906],"class_list":["post-16225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-asia-news","category-legislation-news","category-slider-home","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-macau-casinos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16225"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16252,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16225\/revisions\/16252"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}