{"id":777003853,"date":"2023-03-30T13:03:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-30T16:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777003853"},"modified":"2026-04-22T23:16:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T02:16:13","slug":"mgm-china-sees-little-chance-of-recovering-losses-from-suncity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/mgm-china-sees-little-chance-of-recovering-losses-from-suncity","title":{"rendered":"MGM China sees little chance of recovering losses from Suncity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>MGM China says the possibility of recovering losses through its litigation against the defunct junket operator is remote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Macau.- <strong>MGM China <\/strong>has deemed the possibility of recovering losses from the former junket operator Suncity to be remote. The group had sought HK$349m (US$44.46m) in damages in litigation against the company, which was accused of running under-the-table betting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The legal counsels of Wynn Macau, MGM China Holdings, SJM Holdings, Sands China and Galaxy Entertainment Group have all&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/alvin-chaus-attorney-says-no-evidence-to-convict\" target=\"_blank\">asked the court to award them damages<\/a>&nbsp;due to lost earnings as a result of Suncity&#8217;s operations. MGM says operators had been &#8220;victims of fraud and subject to tremendous loss&#8221;. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, while it continues to try to cut its losses from deposits with junket operations at its MGM Macau property.&nbsp;it sees little chance. A February 2022 appeal was dismissed, leading to losses from legal proceedings of HK$202.7m (US$25.82m). MGM reached a settlement last year, reversing HK$60m (US$7.64m) of the liability and further litigation regarding the group&#8217;s joint liability with gaming promoters is still pending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Judge&nbsp;<strong>Lou Ieng Ha<\/strong> at the Macau Court of First Instance sentenced&nbsp;<strong>Alvin Chau Cheok Wa<\/strong>, the former CEO of Suncity (now&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/suncity-group-gets-go-ahead-to-change-name-let-group-holdings\" target=\"_blank\">LET Group Holdings Ltd<\/a>), to 18 years in prison, a penalty authorities want to <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/prosecutors-aim-to-increase-alvin-chau-prison-sentence\" target=\"_blank\">increase to over 20 years<\/a>.&nbsp; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MGM China says the possibility of recovering losses through its litigation against the defunct junket operator is remote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":17968,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"MGM China reports a remote possibility of recovering HK$349m (US$44.46m) in losses from litigation against the defunct junket operator Suncity, despite other Macau concessionaires also seeking damages. This follows a dismissed appeal and a partial settlement, with further litigation pending regarding joint liability with gaming promoters. The former Suncity CEO, Alvin Chau, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for his role in the illicit operations.","focusai_entities":"MGM China, Suncity, Wynn Macau, MGM China Holdings, SJM Holdings, Sands China, Galaxy Entertainment Group, Alvin Chau Cheok Wa, LET Group Holdings Ltd, Macau Court of First Instance","focusai_location":"Macau","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (1.0), payments_fraud_aml (0.7), investor_analyst (1.0), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Junket Litigation Impact?","query":"What are the aggregate financial implications for all Macau concessionaires from the Suncity litigation, considering both direct losses and legal costs?"},{"label":"Regulatory Framework Evolution?","query":"How will the outcomes of the Suncity case and Alvin Chau's sentencing influence future regulatory compliance requirements and governance frameworks for gaming promoters in Macau?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16338,163],"tags":[1618],"class_list":["post-777003853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-asia-news","category-finance-news","tag-mgm-china"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777003853","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=777003853"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777003853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777003880,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777003853\/revisions\/777003880"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777003853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777003853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777003853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}