All In
Macau's gambling paradise has turned into a cut-throat business
Macau, the Vegas of the east, deserves to be the backdrop for an episode of CSI: Miami. It would be a waste of high drama if no one makes a movie or a TV episode out of Sister Cat's death. Casino VIP-room operator Chao Yeuk-hong, aka Sister Cat, had her throat slashed in a car near a golf resort. She was found dead with her husband over the border in Zhuhai . Two years on, Zhuhai authorities this week coughed up more details about the case, but with the same conclusion - one that once shocked Macau: the couple hired hitmen to have themselves killed. Sister Cat's younger brother and four professional killers were sentenced to jail terms of 12 to 14 years, it was revealed.
Zhuhai prosecutors said Sister Cat and her husband had been unable to recover huge loans made to high rollers and had 'committed suicide to avoid debt-related hassles'. They explained that Sister Cat had borrowed too much in order to extend credit to gamblers. Sister Cat asked her brother to find killers and left a will for her daughter, the prosecutors said. Tied up and blindfolded, the couple's last words were said to have been: 'Be tough, make a clean cut and let us die a comfortable death.' This version of events was met with widespread disbelief in Macau, where it was rumoured she died while on her way to collect a debt. Why would she choose a brutal death, ignoring easier ways to die? Why would she give the job to her brother, knowing he could get the death penalty on the mainland?
Sister Cat's death is a literal reminder that competition in Macau is cut-throat.
Market Wai aims to settle tricky debt disputes
Speaking of the difficulty in chasing debts, the legendary 'Market Wai' has just founded a group on behalf of VIP operators in the enclave. Ng Man-sun, or Ng Wai, who runs a high-stakes gambling business at the Crown Macau casino, launched the Macau Gaming Professionals Association on Sunday. Market Wai was known as the arch-rival of triad kingpin 'Broken Tooth' Wan Kuok-koi, who has been in jail for a decade. He said at the launch that collecting debts from gamblers was no easy task and the new group would be dedicated to settling debt disputes. It would protect the interests of VIP operators and casino middlemen through lawyers and legal means, he said. He's a fine one to talk. And he must not know that debts from casino gambling are not legally enforceable on the mainland, where most of Macau's high rollers come from.