{"id":777028933,"date":"2025-07-11T08:54:41","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T11:54:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777028933"},"modified":"2026-04-21T21:04:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T00:04:40","slug":"macau-crime-rise-linked-to-new-enforcement-against-illegal-gambling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/macau-crime-rise-linked-to-new-enforcement-against-illegal-gambling","title":{"rendered":"Macau crime rise linked to new enforcement against illegal gambling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Gaming crime rose by 63 per cent in the first five months of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Macau.- Police have attributed a 62.9 per cent increase in gaming-related crimes in the first five months of 2025 to enhanced enforcement following the implementation of new legislation. Speaking at a recent briefing, Sit Chong Meng<\/strong>, director of Macau\u2019s Judiciary Police (PJ), said that 943 gaming-related criminal cases were registered between January and May<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He noted that the rise was largely driven by cases involving unlicensed money exchange for gambling, which was criminalised under the Law to Combat Crimes of Illegal Gambling enacted in late October 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sit said 204 of the gaming-related cases, over 21 per cent, involved illegal currency exchange. Since the law came into effect, the PJ has investigated 323 such cases and arrested 481 people. Offenders may face up to five years in prison and casino-entry bans ranging from two to ten years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Macau\u2019s Secretary for Security, Wong Sio Chak<\/strong>, affirmed at a May press conference that the new law has been effective in addressing illegal gambling. The total number of criminal cases initiated by the PJ this year dipped by 1.1 per cent. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> 2 arrested for allegedly stealing casino chips in Macau<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gaming crime rose by 63 per cent in the first five months of the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":680,"featured_media":13081,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Gaming-related crime in Macau surged by 63% in the first five months of 2025, primarily attributed to enhanced enforcement following new legislation criminalizing unlicensed money exchange for gambling. The Judiciary Police registered 943 cases, with over 21% involving illegal currency exchange, leading to 481 arrests and potential prison sentences and casino-entry bans.","focusai_entities":"Sit Chong Meng, Judiciary Police (PJ), Wong Sio Chak","focusai_location":"Macau","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.9), payments_fraud_aml (0.9), investor_analyst (0.85), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Impact on GGR\/NGR?","query":"What is the projected long-term impact of the 'Law to Combat Crimes of Illegal Gambling' on Macau's GGR and NGR, considering potential shifts in VIP segment activity and operational costs for licensed entities?"},{"label":"Operator AML Adjustments?","query":"How are licensed operators in Macau adjusting their internal AML and KYC protocols to mitigate risks associated with the criminalization of unlicensed money exchange, and what are the associated operational costs and compliance challenges?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16338,439],"tags":[24670,24828,257],"class_list":["post-777028933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-asia-news","category-legal-news","tag-gambling-crimes","tag-law-enforcement","tag-macau"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777028933","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\/680"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777028933"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777028933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777028949,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777028933\/revisions\/777028949"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777028933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777028933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777028933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}