Does “Broken Tooth Koi” run VIP room?
The L’Arc Macau, a casino on the Macau peninsula that operates under an SJM Holdings license, has reportedly seen a second case of embezzlement. The Hong Kong Economic Journal reported that Macau Judiciary Police are investigating the theft of around HKD1 million (US$129,000), which reportedly took place at a VIP room at L’Arc.
In January, HKD100 million (almost $US13 million) disappeared from a junket operation at L’Arc reportedly occurred at a VIP room run by Wan Kuok Koi, also known as “Broken Tooth Koi,” onetime kingpin of the infamous 14K Triad. Wan served a 14-year prison sentence for illegal gambling, loansharking and criminal association, reported the website CalvinAyre.com; on his release in December 2014, he announced he would return to the junket business.
The Macau Business Daily reports that such inside jobs are not uncommon, and not all of them are reported. A source told the publication that junkets are more willing to publicize cases of high-profile embezzlement.
“For the long time I was in the industry, I can say that managers suddenly disappearing with companies’ money were not new things,” the source said. “But the operators just didn’t report it to the police or make it high profile in the past, as they cared about their image a lot. Junkets now make everything high profile when it hurts their costs.”
The biggest case in recent months was an alleged multimillion-dollar theft by a cage cashier at a Dore Entertainment VIP room at Wynn Macau last September. Sanford C. Bernstein analysts said such cases “may accelerate the government’s plans to potentially introduce greater junket regulation. Such new regulations would create headwinds in junket VIP and may further limit junkets’ ability to raise capital and conduct operations in the manner to which they are accustomed.”
