Macau’s Judiciary Police (PJ) said that 1,423 investigations and prosecutions of gaming-related crimes were opened in 2024, an increase of 28.6% compared to 2023 but a decrease of 34% compared to 2019.
In last year’s gaming crime data, there were 252 cases of illegal borrowing for the purpose of gambling and 47 cases of imprisonment related to gaming. The PJ pointed out that the lower figure compared to 2019 shows that the share of serious and violent crimes in gaming is continuing to decline.
After Macau’s new Illegal Gaming Law came into effect last year, the police have arrested 120 money exchange gang members and seized cash and chips totaling more than HK$11 million across 84 cases of illegal money exchanges related to gambling as of the end of December.
According to the PJ, the commencement of the Illegal Gaming Law has provided an important legal basis for the police to combat illegal money exchanges and to deal with gambling crimes. Police said the will continue to be vigilant against the trend of hidden money exchange gangs while combating and publicizing the problem at the same time.
Overall, the PJ filed 14,049 criminal cases last year, a year-on-year increase of 13.4%, of which 7,762 were investigations and prosecutions, a year-on-year increase of 14.1%. The number of cases closed for the year was 12,856, an increase of 22.7% year-on-year.
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