{"id":33633,"date":"2022-09-20T02:55:04","date_gmt":"2022-09-20T05:55:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=33633"},"modified":"2026-04-23T04:45:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T07:45:06","slug":"alvin-chau-denies-involvement-in-multiplier-betting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/alvin-chau-denies-involvement-in-multiplier-betting","title":{"rendered":"Alvin Chau denies involvement in multiplier betting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Alvin Chau Cheok Wa denied having operated under-the-table betting for high rollers in Macau.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Macau.-\u00a0Alvin Chau Cheok Wa’s trial has begun following its postponement<\/a>. On the first day, the former CEO of Suncity Group (now\u00a0LET Group Holdings Ltd<\/a>) denied accusations that he ran under-the-table betting for high rollers for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his testimony, prosecutor Lai U Hou referred to conversations and text messages obtained by the police that allegedly\u00a0showed Chau’s role in a practice known as multiplier betting.\u00a0With multipliers, the bet denominated at the casino gaming table would represent a private wager that would be a multiple of the \u201cofficial\u201d wager, thereby avoiding the 39 per cent tax rate on gross gaming revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Macau prosecutors alleged that Chau invited several people to set up an entity<\/strong>\u00a0responsible for processing multiplier bets to increase working capital and spread risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chau said: \u201cWhat I was handling was regulating the grant of credit to players, and monitoring the risks. I took no part in the interests related to multiplier activities.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheang Tak Fat<\/strong>, a Macau lawyer representing Macau casino operator Wynn Macau as a plaintiff in the case, asked Alvin Chau from what date entities now accused of handling multiplier bets had been operating. Chau said they had been there all the time but said that he had nothing to do with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked if he knew if any of the defendants were involved in organising and placing multiplier bets in Macau, he said probably Cheong Chi Kin, a defendant in the case. Chau also denied using assets or projects acquired in mainland China\u00a0to collateralise players’ gaming debts incurred from multiplier bets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Levo Chan trial to start on December 5<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Levo Chan<\/strong>\u2018s trial has been set to start on December 5. The former head of Tak Chun has been formally charged by Macau\u2019s Public Prosecution Office\u00a0for engaging in illegal gambling activities,\u00a0running a crime syndicate\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0money laundering<\/strong>. He was\u00a0arrested in January<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chan has been charged with other eight people but is the only one of the nine to have been detained in custody. Chan could face a maximum possible sentence of 20 years in prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most casino operators in Macau ceased all transactions with junket operators after the two high-profile arrests. The arrests also led authorities to contemplate changes to the legal framework concerning junket operations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alvin Chau Cheok Wa denied having operated under-the-table betting for high rollers in Macau.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":26856,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Alvin Chau Cheok Wa, former CEO of Suncity Group, denied accusations of operating illegal \"multiplier betting\" to evade Macau's 39% GGR tax during his trial. Concurrently, Levo Chan, former head of Tak Chun, faces trial for illegal gambling, crime syndicate operation, and money laundering, leading to significant disruption and potential regulatory reform for Macau's junket sector.","focusai_entities":"Alvin Chau Cheok Wa, Suncity Group, LET Group Holdings Ltd, Lai U Hou, Cheang Tak Fat, Wynn Macau, Cheong Chi Kin, Levo Chan, Tak Chun, Macau's Public Prosecution Office","focusai_location":"Macau, China","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.95), regulator (0.98), compliance_legal (0.97), operator_casino (0.98), payments_fraud_aml (0.85), investor_analyst (0.96), supplier_vendor (0.75), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Junket Model Viability","query":"What are the long-term implications for the junket operator business model in Macau, and how might this regulatory crackdown influence VIP segment strategies for integrated resort operators?"},{"label":"Regulatory Framework Changes","query":"How will Macau's contemplated changes to the legal framework concerning junket operations specifically address \"multiplier betting\" and enhance GGR tax compliance, and what is the projected timeline for these reforms?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16338,439,158],"tags":[23911,23702],"class_list":["post-33633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-asia-news","category-legal-news","category-slider-home","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-suncity-group"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33633","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=33633"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33633\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33657,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33633\/revisions\/33657"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}