The number of gambling-related crime cases in Macau has jumped for the fourth year in a row with almost 1,000 instances of either loan sharking or illegal detention recorded between June 2016 and May 2017.
The figures were announced this week by Judiciary Police Director Chau Wai Kuong, who cited 523 cases of illegal detention over the past 12 months – a 20.2% increase over the 435 similar cases during the same period in 2015-16. Loan sharking rose 6.2% from 389 previously to 413 this past year.
They compare to just 208 cases of loan sharking and 78 cases of illegal detention back in 2013.
“The performance of Macau’s gaming industry has stabilized since the second half of last year but gaming-related crimes remain serious,” Chau said.
He added that the rise in gaming-related crimes in recent years had coincided with two years of decline for gaming revenues in Macau, although the recent recovery appears to have done little to halt the spree.
Earlier this week the Judiciary Police raided two apartments in Taipa where they arrested 15 people involved in a loan-sharking ring target players in Macau casinos. Police had previously stormed three other dens that formed part of the same syndicate between March and June 2017.
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