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Macau, along with Hong Kong, is one of the two well-known special administrative regions that were formerly under the colonial administration of European powers and have been returned to China for several years. Both city-states enjoy special administrative zone status and thus have special rights vis-à-vis the rest of mainland China.

While Hong Kong has attracted attention in recent years mainly due to protests by a large democracy movement, the former Portuguese colony of Macao is quieter and more inconspicuous. A gambling Eldorado has developed here, attracting many guests and players from mainland China.

Macao has always been the casino city - this was true even in the days of the Portuguese colonial administration. But now there are concerns about Macao's economic future as a special administrative zone. While Hong Kong with its "one-country-two-systems" model is now marching more toward China, it looked for a long time as if Macao could continue its special status because the democracy movement there is not as active and strong.

However, an arrest has now caused casino stocks to plummet, raising concerns about whether Macau can remain a gambler's paradise and what the future holds for the special administrative region. The trigger is the arrest of Alvin Chau and ten other players in the gambling scene in Macau.

Alvin Chau is not an unknown person, but the owner of Sun City in Macau. In this gambling portfolio is also the most significant junket player of Macao. This company is an intermediary and provider of casino payment methods for high roller gambling activities and thus has about 50% of the junket market in Macau under its control. With a 15% share of the total gross gaming revenue in Macau, Suncity and Alvin Chau is thus the biggest player in the gaming industry in the Macau Special Administrative Region.

There have already been rumors that Chau and his companies are involved in illegal gambling and also have contacts with international organized crime. The specific allegations that led to the arrest by Chinese law enforcement officials are that Chau and the others arrested had set up an illegal gambling network in Wenzhou (eastern mainland China), allegedly involving 800,000 players. Gambling outside of Macau is strictly prohibited in mainland China.

Of course, this is especially true for foreign visitors and visitors from mainland China. If the top players in the gambling industry in Macau are now associated with organized crime, this does not give much hope for the future of gambling in Macau. Especially since the CCP and the Chinese authorities have already recently embarked on increasingly stringent regulation of the gambling industry. An interesting report on Macau, the second former European colony in China besides Hong Kong, can be read here.

This bad news immediately led to massive price losses (already the regulation announcement by the Chinese authorities regarding the casinos had caused losses) of the shares of casino operators in Macau on the Hong Kong stock exchange. The papers of the gambling groups had to register already in the last years strong losses, because China has the strictest pandemic and quarantine restrictions of the far in the course of the Covid 19 pandemic crisis and thus the visitor flow in the stationary casinos of Macau already since 2020 massively collapsed,

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Of course, this is especially true for foreign visitors and visitors from mainland China. If the top players in the gambling industry in Macau are now associated with organized crime, this does not give much hope for the future of gambling in Macau. Especially since the CCP and the Chinese authorities have already recently embarked on increasingly stringent regulation of the gambling industry. An interesting report on Macau, the second former European colony in China besides Hong Kong, can be read here.