In what is a truly momentous yet not unexpected turn of events, yesterday saw the end of an era when Sun City Gaming Promotion Company Limited, the Suncity company licensed by the Macau government to provide VIP gaming promotion services, officially announced the complete cessation of its business.
The announcement came in the form of a letter from the company to its employees, which was widely distributed on the internet as of late last night. It reads as follows:
Dear employees,
Notifications from various casinos to suspend cooperation with our company and the company’s suspension of its activities to accommodate judicial proceedings have rendered the company unable to operate. In view of the force majeure factors currently encountered, the company regretfully announces the termination of its business with immediate effect from December 10.
The company will work with the relevant government departments to ensure a smooth transition and will announce arrangements through the heads of departments in due course.
Suncity Gaming Promotion Company Limited
10 December 2021
The announcement ends the Suncity junket promotion business, formerly the undisputed king of VIP casino gaming promotion throughout Macau, Asia and the world, and follows the arrest and detainment without bail of the company’s sole shareholder, Alvin Chau, awaiting trial for alleged criminal association, illegal gambling and money laundering.
Founded in 2007, with its first VIP room at StarWorld on the Macau peninsula, the Suncity junket business had a run of 14 years. During the peak of Suncity’s junket empire, it had as many as 17 VIP rooms in Macau, as well as rooms in the Philippines, Cambodia and as far afield as Australia – as well as single-handedly being responsible for as much as a third of Macau’s world record-breaking high level of GGR.
The effect of Suncity’s closure leaves in its wake a raft of unanswered questions for the Macau gaming industry, not least of which includes the future of former Suncity employees.
Also yet to be resolved is the ultimate fate of deposit moneys owed by Suncity to its former clients, the numerous other Suncity companies given the group’s main source of revenue is no more, and all other junket operators in Macau.
