GGRAsia – Reports of transactions involving gaming suspects in Macau increased by 30 percent compared to last year

Suspicious transaction reports (STRs) filed by gaming operators in Macau rose by almost a third year-on-year in the first nine months of this year.

This emerges from data from the city’s Financial Intelligence Office. There were 3,041 such reports in the calendar year ended September 30, a 30.2 percent increase from 2,335 in the same period in 2023.

STRs from gaming companies this time accounted for 73.8 percent of the total 4,118 reported transactions in Macau in the first nine months, about the same proportion as the total 3,178 suspicious transactions from all sectors in the first nine months of 2023.

In the last announced period, there were 843 suspicious activity reports from financial institutions and insurance companies, or 20.5 percent of the total. This was an increase of 36.6 percent compared to the previous year’s reporting period with 617 cases.

“Other institutions” recently accounted for 234 reports or 5.7 percent, an increase of 3.5 percent compared to 226 in the first nine months of 2023

The 29.6 percent year-on-year increase in all forms of STRs this time was “primarily due to the increase in the number of STRs reported by the financial and gaming sectors,” the Financial Intelligence Office said.

The office is under the Macau Unitary Police Service. The latter combines the scope of work of the criminal investigation department and the public security police.

According to the existing guidelines for the gambling sector – issued by the city’s casino regulator, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau and valid since January 2019 – suspicious transactions are defined as those related to gambling operations that have unusual characteristics or complexity that indicate signs of money laundering or terrorist financing.

Reporting companies within the industry are required to register such suspicious transactions, regardless of the value of the trade in question.