{"id":26815,"date":"2014-12-18T16:57:14","date_gmt":"2014-12-19T00:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=26815"},"modified":"2014-12-18T16:58:36","modified_gmt":"2014-12-19T00:58:36","slug":"beijing-to-launch-unprecedented-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/beijing-to-launch-unprecedented-attack\/","title":{"rendered":"Beijing to Launch “Unprecedented” Attack on Corruption in Macau"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Chinese
As Macau prepares to report its first ever year-on-year revenue decline, Beijing announces a huge crackdown on money laundering, prompting shares to fall further. (Image: Wikipedia.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Macau casino companies saw their shares tumble on Wednesday following the news that China is about to launch the biggest ever financial crackdown<\/a> on the world\u2019s biggest gambling market.<\/p>\n

As Chinese president Xi Jinping embarks, all smiles,\u00a0 on a state visit Macau to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the former Portuguese enclave\u2019s return to Chinese rule this week, his Ministry of Public Security is preparing an \u201cunprecedented\u201d onslaught on corruption and money laundering in the gambling hub.<\/p>\n

Macau has already been a focal point of Xi\u2019s wider anti-corruption offensive for at least six months.<\/p>\n

Beijing has, in particular, cracked down on the junket industry, which accounts for about two thirds of Macau\u2019s gambling revenue.<\/p>\n

The junkets are operated by middlemen who organize trips for high rollers, many of whom are believed by Beijing to be corrupt Communist Party officials removing their ill-gotten gains from the mainland.<\/p>\n

A separate crackdown on illegal money transfers is hurting Macau\u2019s bottom line further.<\/p>\n

Visitors from the mainland are permitted to bring no more than 20,000 yuan ($3,200) at a time and can only withdraw 10,000 yuan ($1,600) per day, per card, from cash machines.<\/p>\n

Until recently visitors were able to swerve the restriction by using their debit cards to buy expensive goods from pawnshops and jewelry stores based at the casinos, and then trade them for local currency.<\/p>\n

However, recent restrictions on the use of UnionPay, China\u2019s only domestic bank card, has severely curbed the flow of money into Macau.<\/p>\n

Operation Foxhunt<\/b><\/h2>\n

This, coupled with a new blanket smoking ban, not to mention a generally weak Asian economy, means that Macau is preparing to report its first ever year on year decline, since it reverted to Chinese rule.<\/p>\n

And according to a report by the Hong Kong based South China Morning Post, Beijing is about to ramp it up a notch.<\/p>\n

“This is big,” an industry insider whispered to the Post.\u00a0 “It’s serious and key people are going to be scared.”<\/p>\n

The Post cited documents it saw, sent to Macau\u2019s banks this week by the city\u2019s monetary authority, which confirmed the government push.<\/p>\n

One anonymous casino analyst told the newspaper that the initiative was linked to China\u2019s \u201cOperation Foxhunt,\u201d an international manhunt for corrupt former officials who have fled China with huge sums of public money.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s expected to focus on money-laundering trails through Macau and it looks to be the final nail in the coffin of the junket organizers.<\/p>\n

“They are looking for big guys,” the analyst said.<\/p>\n

Increased Surveillance\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

The Chinese government has upped its security operations in Macau over the last 12 months, installing a vast network of surveillance cameras that local closely monitors the comings and goings of visitors from the mainland.<\/p>\n

“As long as there is a table or a gaming machine, there is a camera. They can see any camera, inside 35 casinos, and anyone,” said Professor Davis Fong, director of the University of Macau’s Institute for the Study of Commercial Gaming. “In Macau we have very close relations with the Chinese central government as well as the Chinese police department.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Shares Galaxy Entertainment Group, which owns six properties in Macau, including StarWorld Macau, fell nearly 8 percent on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Wednesday, while Sands China<\/a> dropped more than 5 percent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Macau casino companies saw their shares tumble on Wednesday following the news that China is about to launch the biggest ever financial crackdown on the world\u2019s biggest gambling market. As Chinese president Xi Jinping embarks, all smiles,\u00a0 on a state visit Macau to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the former Portuguese enclave\u2019s return to Chinese […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":26816,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,13,18],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBeijing to Launch "Unprecedented" Attack on Corruption in Macau<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Macau casino shares plummet as China promises huge crackdown on financial corruption in the gambling hub.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Beijing to Launch "Unprecedented" Attack on Corruption in Macau\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Macau casino shares plummet as China promises huge crackdown on financial corruption in the gambling hub.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/beijing-to-launch-unprecedented-attack\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-12-19T00:57:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-12-19T00:58:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/18th_National_Congress_of_the_Communist_Party_of_China-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/beijing-to-launch-unprecedented-attack\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/beijing-to-launch-unprecedented-attack\/\",\"name\":\"Beijing to Launch \\\"Unprecedented\\\" Attack on Corruption in Macau\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/beijing-to-launch-unprecedented-attack\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/beijing-to-launch-unprecedented-attack\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/18th_National_Congress_of_the_Communist_Party_of_China-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-12-19T00:57:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-12-19T00:58:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"Macau casino shares plummet as China promises huge crackdown on financial corruption in the gambling hub.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/beijing-to-launch-unprecedented-attack\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/beijing-to-launch-unprecedented-attack\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/beijing-to-launch-unprecedented-attack\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/18th_National_Congress_of_the_Communist_Party_of_China-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/18th_National_Congress_of_the_Communist_Party_of_China-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"As Macau prepares to report its first ever year-on-year revenue decline, Beijing announces a huge crackdown on money laundering, prompting shares to fall further. 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