Macau’s ‘Junket King’ gets 18 years’ jail

The so-called “Junket King” of Macau casino operations has been sentenced to 18 years in jail in the Chinese territory for running an illegal gambling business.

Alvin Chau, founder of Suncity Group, ran a junket business that brought high rollers into the territory from mainland China, where the marketing or soliciting of gambling is illegal.

His organisation was alleged to have also offered credit facilities to wealthy gamblers and collected their debuts on behalf of casinos.

Chau faced 289 charges of fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling. He was acquitted of the money laundering charges but found guilty of fraud and running a  criminal syndicate operating illegal bets.

The five-month trial was centred on alleged under-the-table bets amounting to US$105bn over an eight-year period that defrauded the Macau tax revenue of around $128m.