In the ongoing trial of former Macau junket king Alvin Chau, a member of the city’s investigative force testified that Chau’s Suncity Group junket raked in about $804 million in “illicit gains” from proxy bets placed by phone over a two-year span, between August 2017 and July 2019.
As the name suggests, proxy bets are wagers placed in a casino on behalf of a gambler who is not physically present, but watching remotely.
Ho Ka Weng, an investigator from the Judiciary Police, testified at the Court of First Instance in the proceedings. He said his investigative team uncovered evidence suggesting an additional $115 million was generated for a proxy betting group called “UE” from January through March of 2020. Prosecutors in the Chau case have linked the UE group to Suncity.
As reported by GGRAsia, Ho said, “We… found Suncity set up telephone betting… with the purpose of facilitating access to gambling for people that found it difficult to gamble in Macau.” He alleged that Suncity used underground banks to transfer funds.
In November 2021, Chau was indicted for illegal gaming, criminal association, fraud and money laundering. He said Suncity ceased proxy bets in 2016, when Macau regulators banned the activity, continued the service in overseas markets like the Philippines, then stopped offering them there in 2019 and “transferred” the operations to a “Richard Ieong” of UE. Chau said UE was a wholly separate business operation.
In other testimony, character witnesses spoke in Chau’s favor. Gina Lei Sou Ian, former senior vice president of corporate and community relations at Suncity, said Chau was “hard-working,” a “good boss” and a “trusted” leader in the gaming sector. She also called him a “patriotic” businessman who created revenues for Macau’s casinos and its government and supported charities both in Macau and in Mainland China.
Closing arguments have been pushed from November 21 to November 29. If convicted, the billionaire entrepreneur could face decades behind bars.
