Macau junket operator Suncity vows to stop extending online betting to mainland China after expose by state media drew heat

Suncity’s founder and CEO Alvin Chau held a press conference that lasted 7 minutes, where he read a prepared speech without taking questions

The junket operator said it will cease all illegal operations in mainland China even if they are allowed in other regions

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General View of Casino and Hotel at Cotai in Macau on 11 February, 2015. Photo SCMP

Published: 10:14pm, 13 Jul 2019Updated: 10:12am, 14 Jul 2019

Suncity Group Holdings, Macau’s biggest operator of junkets for high roller gamblers, vowed to rein in its online gaming and proxy betting operations in mainland China, days after an expose in Chinese state media accused the company of disrupting China’s financial order.

The junket operator of Macau, the only Chinese territory where gambling is legal, had facilitated Chinese gamblers to bet through online casinos in The Philippines and Cambodia, using underground banks to move capital out of the country, according to a July 8 report by Econo mic Information Daily , a Chinese-language newspaper affiliated with the state news agency Xinhua.

The accusations were denied by Suncity’s founder and Chief Executive Officer Alvin Chau, in a hastily assembled press conference in Macau, even as he vowed to stop any illegal activities in China.

“The Company has not operated the so-called online gaming platform, which is promoting gaming and conducting monetary settlement in mainland China without physical gambling chips,” Chau said in a written statement during the 7-minute press conference, without accepting any media questions. “From now on we will not operate any [gambling activities in mainland China] if we are not allowed to do so, even if we’re legally allowed to operate [such activities] in other countries and regions.”

Alvin Chau (left), chief executive officer of Suncity Group; Andrew Lo Kai Bong, Managing Director Project Development of Suncity Group. SCMP/UNDATED HANDOUT)

The expose by the Chinese newspaper, which carries the imprimatur and authority as a state-run media, marks the first time that online betting has been singled out for action, as the nation’s internet regulator tightens its oversight of online activities, including the expression of politically sensitive opinions and propagation of divisive language on social media.

“The annual amount bet through online gambling in the mainland is more than 1 trillion yuan (US$145 billion), equivalent to nearly twice the annual income of China’s lottery,” Econ omic Information Daily said in a report that was denied by Chau.