Ongoing auction: ex-junket king Alvin Chau’s properties still available at discounted prices

Only two of the 36 properties owned by former junket kingpin Alvin Chau have been auctioned off, with the rest still under the hammer, court records show.

However, these properties – three commercial units and 31 car parking spaces – are now worth about half of their combined original bid price of nearly MOP600 million (US$74.68 million).

The first three properties, located in Taipa, are selling for MOP49,965,300, MOP66,373,200 and MOP159,073,200 respectively, with 30 parking spaces valued at MOP1,066,050 each and one parking space particularly valued at MOP1,019,700.

The public auction, which was due to end in September last year, has been extended until February this year.

Earlier this month, the city’s top court upheld the 18-year prison term for Chau, who, along with his eight associates, must pay a whopping HKD24.865 billion in compensation to the government for profiting from illicit gambling operations. 

The jail terms for the other eight range from nine years to 12 years and 6 months.

Earlier this year, China Central Television, the country’s national TV broadcaster known as CCTV, reported that the online gaming sites run by the former gambling promoter in the Philippines generated RMB300 billion in bets between 2015 and 2019, with his winnings topping RMB8.7 billion from Chinese gamblers.