Recently-reported cases of alleged “telephone betting” on Macau casino premises did represent a criminal trend, but were now “under control” thanks to cooperation between police forces and the vigilance of the city’s casino operators. So said Macau’s Secretary for Security, Chan Tsz King (pictured, centre) in comments to the press during a Thursday briefing on first-half crime statistics.
The telephone betting cases – commonly referred to in the industry as ‘proxy betting’ – allegedly involve individuals that have livestreamed betting activities on Macau casino floors using mobile phones, and made wagers on behalf of people not physically present in the gaming venue.
A number of alleged incidents has been on the cusp of the first-half and second-half reporting periods. They had reportedly occurred either at live baccarat tables or electronic baccarat tables.
In the Thursday press briefing, Mr Chan said mobile phone-assisted betting cases had been detected and curbed “immediately”, thanks to the “close cooperation” between police forces and the casino operators.
The senior security official also remarked that most of the alleged telephone-betting cases appeared to be “isolated” from each other. He cited initial analysis by the police.
But he noted that officers were still conducting further investigations into those reported activities.
The city’s casino regulator – the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) – said in a Thursday release that it would continue to work with the Judiciary Police and the casino operators in “combatting” telephone betting activities, in order to safeguard the “integrity” and “compliance” of the gaming sector.
The regulator said it had met with representatives from the six casino operators on Tuesday for talks on measures to detect and curb telephone-betting practices.
Based on GGRAsia’s review of recent Chinese-language media reports citing police information, the alleged offences have taken place from May through to early July. The suspects appeared to have livestreamed baccarat play with micro-cameras hidden in modified clothing, and wagered on behalf of patrons on the Chinese mainland.
The Judiciary Police had charged the detected individuals with “illegal operation of online gambling or online mutual betting”, an offence under Macau’s Law to Combat Crimes of Illegal Gambling.
