China’s Ministry of Public Security has urged security forces in Macau and the mainland to strengthen cooperation in cracking down on illegal money exchange businesses in the Macau SAR, Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday.
The so-called ‘money changers’, present around the city’s casinos, have been identified as a key method for moving funds across different jurisdictions, particularly between the mainland and Macau.
Driven by huge profits, the scale of the “money exchange gangs” providing large amounts of cash exchange and high-interest loan services illegally in Macau has expanded rapidly, mainland authorities said, adding that this has triggered other illegal activities such as fighting, fraud, theft, and smuggling, severely affecting local social order and stability.
Macau’s Secretary for Security, Wong Sio Chak, said last week that gaming-related crime soared 122 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2024. Fraud accounted for 21.7 per cent of the total, with 76 cases, followed by loan sharking at 17.9 per cent. Local authorities added that cases involving illegal money exchange were still heavily linked to fraud.
Xinhua reports that the Ministry of Public Security requires security bodies to “strike hard and take multiple measures” to strengthen cooperation with the Macau police and launch “a fierce offensive against crimes such as illicit money exchange activities.”
Wong Sio Chak said in late 2023 that the Government was considering criminalizing illicit money exchange. Macau-based gaming law expert and Macau Business columnist António Lobo Vilela noted in an opinion article published in January that “these ‘money changers’ have devised an intricate and sophisticated scheme to move funds across different jurisdictions without crossing any borders,” adding that the scheme “is currently the primary unofficial channel for providing funds to gamblers in Macau.”
Vilela also stressed that “this is a complex topic because of the disadvantages that the absence of ‘money changers’ entails, especially for the ‘six large integrated tourism and leisure companies’ [gaming concessionaires].”
The announcement made by China’s Public Security Ministry comes after Macau saw gross gaming revenue hitting a new post-pandemic high, reaching MOP20.2 billion (USD2.5 billion) in May, accounting for a 29.7 per cent year-on-year increase.
