Casino

Macau teen beaten to death by swarm of angry youths just before Christmas

Posted: 12/27/2012 1:53 pm

Image from: Panoramio user SantoB

Macau is in shock after a brutal beating that resulted in the death of a 15-year old just days before Christmas.

It all happened in the early hours of December 20th. After a dispute in a pub on London Street in the well-trafficked NAPE area, two teens exited the pub. Outside, they were attacked by “eight or nine” youths. One was able to flee, but the other, surnamed Law, was viciously beaten in the street.

The NAPE area is a popular nightlife spot in Macau which tends to attract many tourists. It’s also very close to major casinos like the Wynn Macau.

Among the eight suspects involved, three of them have been taken into custody, according to media reports. They range in age from 16 to 22, and a few of them have triad backgrounds, according to the Macau Daily Times.

Residents nearby were woken up by the noise and called the police. All the attackers had already taken flight from the site when policemen arrived and the victim died shortly after being rushed to the Kiang Wu Hospital. Reports said hours after the attack, detailed information on as many as three alleged suspects including their names, photos, addresses, telephone numbers were posted on the Internet. Police said they were aware of the Internet information but would not confirm if they are the suspected attackers, instead, the authority said they collected information including video footages from CCTV nearby as well as testimony by residents and witnesses.

It’s believed some of the suspects may have quickly fled to the Mainland.

There are concerns in Macau that triads have infiltrated school campuses, and calls for the former Portuguese territory to take action to protect students.

Tagged: Casinolondon streetMacaoMacauNAPEtriadViolence

Police raid hotels and casinos in Macau after spate of attacks on guests, some fatal

Posted: 08/6/2012 9:00 am

Macau saw a huge police sting on August 3 and 4 that harkened back to the triad days in the late 1990s when the enclave was still a Portuguese territory.

Bloomberg has reported that Macau police orchestrated a series of raids on casinos and hotels in a joint-operation with law enforcement officials in the Mainland and Hong Kong after a spate of attacks on guests, some with fatal consequences.

Nevertheless, the mass crackdown is part of a wider operation known as “Thunderbolt,” which has seen police quiz over 1,300 people and detain 149.

Au Kam-sun, a Macau lawmaker, told Bloomberg:

“Crime comes inevitably with casinos… The police make a clean-up every now-and-then to keep the triads in check.”

That may be so, but the last few months have seen violent crime return to pre-handover days. Bloomberg sums up the recent incidents:

Ng Man-sun, the largest shareholder of Amax Holdings Ltd. (959), was beaten in a restaurant at a casino operated by his company, the New York Times reported on June 28. The Macau New Century Hotel stopped accepting guests after the assault because “certain unidentified persons” had been staying there for a long time, according to the South China Morning Post on July 3.

Ng, also known by his nickname “Market Wai,” requested that eight of the nine directors of Amax’s board be removed and replaced by five new directors, according to a company statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange on July 16.

The attack on him was followed by the killing of a Chinese woman in a neighborhood near the Venetian Macau casino, and the murder of two men at the Grand Lapa Hotel, which is operated by Mandarin Oriental International Ltd. (MAND), according to the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post.

The question now is whether the cleanup will be effective.

Tagged: CasinoCheatingCrime CrackdownGambling EnclaveLaowaiMacauMoney LaunderingMurderOperation ThunderboltTriads

Crackdown on visas for locals could make crossing into Macau easier for laowai

Posted: 06/27/2012 2:51 pm

Gongbei Border Control

You might be able to speed through Gongbei Port and into Macau soon, as Guangdong appears to be tightening visa requirements for Chinese tourists.

A report from the Chinese-language Macau Daily News cited unnamed sources saying local officials in neighbouring Guangdong could limit the number of Macau visas issued for locals, coupled with a limit on overseas spending on credit cards. Despite its reunification with China in 1999, Macau is still considered “overseas”.

Major Hong Kong-listed Casino operators Sands China, Galaxy, MGM China and Wynn Macau saw shares tank on the news on Tuesday, but analysts are split on the speculation.

From Bloomberg:

“Recent weakness in Macau gaming revenue and visitation growth could be partially explained by the visa restrictions and reduction in China UnionPay limits highlighted by the Macau Daily,” Cameron McKnight, an analyst at Wells Fargo & Co., said in a June 25 research note.

“The report on visa tightening is a bit speculative,” said Grant Govertsen, a Macau-based analyst at Union Gaming Group. “We haven’t seen anything so far to convince us this is happening.”

While Reuters reports:

“There has been no restriction of visas,” said Gabriel Chan, analyst at Credit Suisse in Hong Kong

Chan said new measures recently put in place should actually should encourage the flow of visitors by making it easier for residents to apply for a visa and lengthening the opening hours of the border gate that connects Macau to the mainland.

The numbers Macau are dealing with are huge, and could affect the gambling-heavy SAR.
From Bloomberg:

Macau casino gambling revenue rose 7.3 percent in May, the slowest pace since July 2009.

Reuters said:

About 25 million visitors from Greater China flocked to the specially administered region in 2011 - the only place in China where nationals can legally gamble at casinos - making up about 90 percent of total visitors.

Long queues at the Gongbei border between Zhuhai and Macau are an all too often occurrence as foreigners bemoan the sheer volume of people crowding into the border facility. Unlike at Lo Wu/Luohu Port connecting Shenzhen with Hong Kong, Gongbei Port often doesn’t differentiate between foreigners and locals, resulting in long queues all around.

The last time local entry into Macau was tightened was back in 2008.

New 24-hour border crossing between Zhuhai and Macau proposed

Posted: 05/29/2012 10:08 am

Gongbei Port may soon have some competition

Anybody who has crossed at Gongbei Port has surely noticed the insane crowds of people moving back and forth. Macau is a gambling haven for Mainland Chinese who are fortunate enough to get a travel permit, but the city is a whole lot more than just gaming; many Zhuhai residents cross into Macau to do their grocery shopping, and vice versa. It’s not uncommon to see hundreds of elderly people walking across with grocery bags full of cooking items. The result is sometimes a 30-40 minute wait - or longer - to get across.

To tackle the problem, Macau is proposing to build a second crossing with Zhuhai that would remain open 24-hours a day.

MacauBusiness.com says it would be equipped to handle 250,000 crossings per day.

The new checkpoint will be located where the Nam Yuet wholesale market now is, and will be for pedestrians only, however all details – including its operating hours – still need to receive approval from Beijing.

As construction hasn’t even started, it will be a while yet before you can make use of the new crossing. Building an alternative to Gongbei is a good idea though, considering Macau’s casino business is booming. Its gaming revenues are now five times what Las Vegas pulls in, making it easily the biggest gambling mecca on the planet.

Despite Macau’s staggering growth, many believe this is just the beginning. Large casino operators are looking to cash in on the growing numbers of affluent people in China and Southeast Asia.

Tagged: Border CrossingCasinoGongbei PortMacaoMacauZhuhai

Surf on the roof of the new Galaxy Macau

Posted: 05/17/2011 5:37 pm

If you’re looking to light it up — and I mean really Light. It. Up. — then Galaxy Macau might be the place to go.

Many of us have made the trek down to Macau for some drinks and blackjack (Macau casinos are far, far different from their Las Vegas counterparts), which is now much easier to do with the high speed rail linking Guangzhou and Zhuhai. But after a night or two, you figure you’ve seen everything, right? I mean, it’s all more of the same: slot machines, baccarat, expensive meals, wealthy mainland Chinese officials smoking and blowing laundered yuan. Well, the Galaxy Macau just might have trumped all of the other glistening casinos and mega-hotels.

The Galaxy had its official opening last Sunday, and as CNNGo points out, it has a number of selling points that sets it apart from the other run-of-the-mill entertainment complexes (if you consider Wynn, MGM and City of Dreams “run-of-the-mill”). For starters, installing a swimming pool is just, so…. pedestrian. So Galaxy installed a 4,000 square metre wave pool, complete with sand, on its roof.

Furthermore, the hotel went out of its way to find the tallest women in Asia (which isn’t an easy task) to work at the hotel. The height requirement for the women was 172 centimetres, well above the typical height of females in these parts. In addition, some rooms have their own spa pools so you can relax in total privacy.

CNNGo has a great list of the other features at the hotel, of which there are many. Macau, in its pursuit of glitz, has just kicked it up a notch.

The relax pool holds up to 3 people.