Las Vegas mogul Steve Wynn’s Wynn Macau casino is suing a Chinese tycoon for HK$14 million in gambling debts, the latest case of a casino in the world’s biggest gaming hub using the courts to go after its money.
According to a writ filed in Hong Kong’s High Court this week, the casino is seeking to get the money from tycoon Li Jun who owns Beijing-based autos to property company Abest Group.
Macau, on China’s southern coastline, is the only place in the country where people are allowed to gamble in casinos. But recovering gambling debts on the mainland is illegal.
The case comes at a time when China’s leadership is toeing a strict line on corruption and flagrant excess.
While Macau casinos such as Wynn are hungry for business from rich people form China, known as “big whale” gamblers, who can bet billions of yuan at a time, they run the risk of not being able to recover debts once the gamblers return to China.
Wynn’s lawsuit against Li follows earlier writs filed by the Venetian Macau, which sued Shanghai businesswoman Zou Yunyu and Xie Xiaoqing, a deputy to the Hubei provincial People’s Congress, in January this year.