Suncity Junket Agents Plead Guilty to Gambling Crimes on Chinese Mainland

Some 35 individuals linked to Macau’s Suncity junket have pleaded guilty to gambling crimes at a court in Wenzhou, eastern China, Macau Business reports.

The 35 are accused of being part of a cross-border gambling syndicate to enable Chinese residents to travel to VIP junkets, overseen by Chau, to Macau and elsewhere.

Prosecutors in Wenzhou indicted the defendants in November 2021, along with Suncity CEO and chairman Alvin Chau Cheok Wa. Days later, Chau was arrested in Macau and charged by Macau prosecutors with operating a criminal syndicate, offering illegal online proxy betting from the Philippines, and money laundering.

Chau is due in court in Macau on Sept. 2, along with 21 other defendants. It is unclear whether he will be extradited to the mainland, as requested.

Suncity used asset management firms and underground banks to enable cross-border money exchange and settlement services, according to prosecutors.

Nail in the Coffin

Until recently, Suncity was the biggest operator in the junket industry, which drove massive revenues into Macau’s casino sector.

Chau’s arrest was the final nail in the coffin for the junkets, signifying that Beijing had finally lost patience with an industry it blamed for money laundering, capital flight, and “severely disrupting the social order.”

Possible Triad Roots

The origins of the junket industry lay in the triad gangs. In the 1990s, they fought vicious turf wars for control of Macau’s illegal gambling dens and legal casino VIP rooms. At the time, Chau was a member of the 14K triads, led by notorious gangster “Broken Tooth” Wan Kwok Koi, according to the Australian government, allegations he has denied.

Chau remains a major shareholder in the wider Suncity Group, which owns casinos in Russia and Vietnam and is building the Westside City Project in Manila.