Secret Phone Bets in Macau VIP Rooms Spark Laundering Risks
- Junket operators say they’re violating phone betting ban
- Macau phone betting 2015 revenue reached $2.6 billion: Daiwa
Hidden inside the private room of a Macau casino’s exclusive gaming area, a single player sits at a baccarat table. As the cards are turned, the man, a hired hand, gives a play-by-play account via an earpiece wirelessly connected to his mobile phone. On the other end of the call, hundreds if not thousands of miles away, is the real gambler -- a player beyond the border in China.
That was the scenario described by five people who work at Macau’s junket operators, which front money to high rollers and bet on their behalf using wireless headsets -- in violation of the city’s May 9 ban on using phones at betting tables. At least three gaming promoters who conduct business at independently run VIP rooms at Macau casinos operated by SJM Holdings Ltd. and Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. told Bloomberg News they’re using headsets to evade the ban, with the proxy players sometimes using their hair to hide the devices. They asked not to be identified because the activities are illicit.