Gambling mogul Alvin Chau Cheok Wa intended to restart proxy betting operation due to the economic repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic a few months before his arrest in Macau in late November 2021, the Court of First Instance was told.
According to the information advanced in the court this week, which is now hearing the high-profile case linked to the former boss of the now-defunct junket operator Suncity Group, this potential proxy betting business bore the new name of “Easy Bet”, which might add new elements of sports lottery and slot machines besides casino games involving croupiers.
There were records that Mr Chau talked about the possible relaunch of proxy betting operation, which should be based in casinos in Southeast Asian countries and South Korea, as late as October 2021.
Loi Ieng Cheong, an officer of Macau Judiciary Police (PJ), confirmed in the court on Tuesday there had been phone messages between Mr Chau and Celestino Ali, the former IT head of Suncity, discussing the possible relaunch since May 2021.
The former Suncity IT head informed Mr Chau in the messages that they could still use the existing hardware from the previous operation to run “Easy Bet” and it would take about two months for them to get the software ready, the PJ investigator added.
Messrs Chau and Ali are among the 21 defendants in the Macau case, who have been indicted for for illicit gambling activities, running a criminal syndicate, frauds, and money laundering.
According to the indictment, the criminal syndicate headed by Mr Chau recorded illicit gains of HK$7.21 billion (US$921.7 million) from activities of proxy betting between August 2017 and March 2020.
Proxy betting refers to a practice where gamblers give instructions online or via telephone to someone who places a bet on their behalf as if they are in a brick-and-mortar casino. Macau issued a guideline in 2016 to ban proxy betting with such activities officially outlawed two years later.
The court has heard Suncity had operated the proxy betting business under the name of SCM until Sept 2019 using its casino VIP rooms in the Philippines, Cambodia, and Vietnam. But the business was “transferred” to the company, UE Group headed by businessman Richard Yong Seng Chen, after hard-hitting reports by the mainland Chinese media in June of the same year that criticised the junket operator enticed mainland Chinese to gamble overseas through proxy betting.
Nonetheless, the UE business — which the prosecution alleged Suncity still controlled 50 per cent of the shares, a claim that the defendants denied — was wound down in the beginning of 2021.
Asked by the legal counsels of the defendants how the proxy betting business violating the Macau laws given the bets taking place in casinos abroad, Mr Loi replied, “The operation was based in Macau to manoeuvre VIP rooms overseas.”
Another linked case
In the Wednesday hearing, when the defence witnesses began to testify, Gina Lei Sou Ian, former senior vice president of corporate and community relations of Suncity, spent half an hour to praise Mr Chau and his contributions to the city and the country.
Working for the former Suncity boss since 2007, Ms Lei described Mr Chau as “patriotic”, “sincere”, “selfless”, “a good boss” and “a good daddy”.
In the past decade, Suncity — which was demised following the arrest of its boss — had contributed about MOP200-300 billion to the public coffers of Macau in terms of gross gaming revenue tax, Ms Lei said.
“Suncity had made major contributions to the [Macau] gaming revenue,” she stressed, adding the enterprise ran as many as 23 VIP rooms in Macau with a headcount of over 4,000 employees at its peak.
The group had also invested in non-gaming sectors like food and beverage, tourism and entertainment to support the government’s goal to diversify the Macau economy from gaming, the former senior executive testified. Suncity had invested in the production of numerous films “to promote the image of China and facilitate the patriotism among the [local] youth”, she added.
Ms Lei also gave an account of the charities and community projects done by Suncity in Macau and Mainland China, namely, donations and sponsorships for major events in the city like the Macau Grand Prix.
Separately, prosecutor Lai U Hou stressed again in the court this week that the police and the Macau Public Prosecutions Office are building up another case linked to illicit activities of Suncity, but he did not disclose the nature of the investigation.
The current Suncity trial, which started in mid-Sept, is coming to an end, as all parties are expected to deliver closing statements next week.
