In a dramatic move that is likely to have major ramifications for the city’s gaming industry, the Prosecutor General’s Office in Wenzhou issued an arrest warrant for Sun City’s Alvin Chau Cheok Wa citing alleged cross-border gambling activities, Chinese state-owned media huanqiu.com reported.
City prosecutors stated the case concerns a cross-border gambling crime syndicate which has been under investigation since July 2020. They said they had since discovered that Chau heads the syndicate which “causes severe damages to the social order of the country”.
Law enforcement officers urged Chau and his fellow syndicate members, including one specifically named as Zhang Ningning, to surrender to authorities as soon as possible for “lenient punishment” as they were already suspects for the crime of “establishing a casino” in the mainland.
Wenzhou prosecutors said that Chau had put together a network of agents across the mainland, who helped him organise trips for gamblers to overseas casinos run by his firms by providing them with credit, transportation and technological support. His shadowy network also encouraged cross-border online gambling activities, it is alleged.
The syndicate headed by Chau also allegedly established asset management firms to help gamblers with cross-border capital transfers and to recover unsettled debts from gamblers. The syndicate also leveraged the illegal underground banking channels to provide capital settlement service for gamblers, prosecutors say.
It is estimated that the syndicate was made up of 199 shareholders and more than 12,000 promotional agents, with a network of more than 80,000 gamblers across the mainland.
Chau’s whereabouts are currently unknown. In addition to its business in Macao, Suncity has resorts in Vietnam and Russia and is building a third in the Philippines.
News of Chau’s arrest warrant spells further difficulties for the city’s gaming industry following this week’s ruling by Macao’s highest court that casino operators are jointly responsible for their junket partners’ debt.
