Wealth Blog | Crackdown on Chinese officials likely to dent Macau casinos

It all gets very murky when the lethal cocktail of wealthy mainland gamblers is mixed with Macau casinos and huge debts. In Yang Kun’s case, it seems banking and gambling were a disastrous mix.

Week in China reports that Yang, a former vice president at Agricultural Bank of China, was detained last April accused of making improper loans. It now seems perhaps the cash was actually used to pay off 3 billion yuan (HK$3,76 billion) of Macau casino debts. Yang is still helping the authorities with their inquiries.

After nearly 30 years toiling for Agricultural Bank, eventually taking charge of its property loans division, Yang is also the most senior banking official to be arrested since Zhang Enzhao, president of China Construction Bank, in 2006. And as WIC points out, for the moment, he is one of the highest profile catches for Xi Jinping’s campaign against official corruption. But will Yang turn out to be an isolated case or the first of many VIP arrests in the former Portuguese enclave?

Crackdown could benefit Hong Kong property

By the end of April, Macau’s casinos had generated more cash than the US gambling state of Nevadav for the whole of 2012. Macau’s first quarter revenues were up 14.8 per cent year-on-year. Macau declared US$38 billion (HK$295 billion) in gaming revenue last year: more than six times the Las Vegas tally.

Admittedly, gambling revenue in April fell slightly from the month before, WIC notes. But that followed a new monthly record in March, with casinos collecting a further US$3.92 billion (HK$30.4 billion).