Former Macau Junket boss and Sun City Group founder Alvin Chowchukwa denied having been involved in what he called “victory” betting activities at Macau casinos during the resumption of trials at the city’s First Instance Court on Monday.
The Macau Public Prosecutor’s Office has charged Mr Chow and 20 others with illegal games, criminal associations, fraud and money laundering. During Monday’s session, prosecutor Lai Wu-hau drew several conversations and text messages allegedly obtained by police, which reportedly showed Mr. Chow’s role in behind-the-scenes betting on Macau’s high roller, also known as the multiplier bet. Using multipliers, the bets displayed at casino game tables represent privately made bets that can in fact be several times the ‘official’ and thus avoid paying some bets on Macau’s effective 39% tax rate on casino total game revenue. 파칭코
Mr. Chow has repeatedly denied the charges the prosecutor has brought against him. “What I was dealing with was regulating credit [to the players] and monitoring risk,” Mr Chow replied to the prosecutor.
Mr Chow also said, “I have not participated in the benefits related to multiplier activity.”
In the indictment, Macau prosecutors alleged Mr Chow invited several individuals to form an organization responsible for handling multiplier bets as a means of “increasing working capital” and “diversifying risk.”
Macau lawyer Zhang Tak Pat, who represents Macau’s casino operator Win Macau Ltd, asked Mr Chow during Monday’s session about when the companies currently charged with handling multiplier bets started operating. In response to the question, Mr. Chow said, “They’ve always been there,” but he said there’s no part of it.
Asked by Chang if any of the defendants were involved in organizing and operating the multiplier betting in Macau, Chow said it was “probably chungchicken.”
Mr. Chung is the defendant in this case. He was not a worker employed by Sun City Group, according to Mr Chow during Monday’s session.
At the hearing, Mr Chow also denied prosecutors using mainland China’s assets or project acquisitions as a means of securing players’ game liabilities arising from multiplier bets.
The former Junkit boss also denied having knowledge of SunCity Group agents soliciting clients for proxy betting activities in Macau. He said Sun City Group has moved such activities to the Philippines since 2015. Mr Chow stressed that Sun City Group was not involved in promoting gambling in mainland China.
Ten of the 21 defendants, including Mr. Chow, attended Monday’s session. Philip Wong Pak-ling, identified as the former head of SunCity Group’s financial unit, left Macau on Monday for “health reasons” and did not appear in court, his lawyer told the court.