The Financial Intelligence Office (GIF) has disclosed that Macau’s six casino operators submitted a total of 891 reports of suspicious transactions related to money laundering or terrorism financing.
In a statement, the GIF identified a decrease in the number of suspicious transaction reports from the gaming sector during the first quarter as the primary reason for a 15.8% drop in the total number.
Between January and March, the office received 1,230 reports, of which 72.8% were from casino operators, while 19.7% came from banks and insurance companies and 7.9% from other institutions and entities.
The sectors mentioned, which include pawnshops, jewelry shops, real estate agencies, and auction houses, are mandated to report any transaction equal to or exceeding 500,000 patacas (approximately 55,000 euros) to the authorities.
In 2024, GIF had received 5,245 reports, with the majority coming from the territory’s casinos: 3,837, marking an 11.8% increase from the previous year and setting a new record.
“This increase was mainly due to economic recovery and the significant rise in visitor arrivals in 2024,” stated the GIF in February, in response to questions from Lusa.
The reports involved issues such as “the conversion of chips with minimal or no gaming activity, third-party chip conversion, and currency exchange/money conversion,” the office added.
In the first three months of the year, Macau casinos registered revenues of nearly 57.7 billion patacas (6.66 billion euros), representing a 0.6% increase compared to the same period in 2024.
These figures remain far from pre-pandemic levels, partly due to a decline in the so-called VIP gaming sector following the arrest in November 2021 of Alvin Chau Cheok Wa, the head of the world’s largest VIP junket operator, Suncity.
In March 2022, the U.S. Department of State designated Macau as one of the world’s major money laundering hubs.
According to the GIF’s annual report, Macau was the only Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering member to meet “all 40 international standards” on the prevention of money laundering, terrorism financing, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
The GIF has signed agreements for information exchange with 33 countries and territories, including the Financial Intelligence Unit of Portugal’s Judicial Police in 2008, the Central Bank of Timor-Leste’s Financial Intelligence Unit in 2018, and in 2019, the Financial Activities Control Council of Brazil and the Financial Intelligence Unit of Cape Verde.
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