The number of gaming related-crimes in Macau in the first three months of 2019 increased by 14.1% year-on-year to a total of 438, the SAR’s Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak has revealed.
The figure included 128 cases of casino loan sharking and 81 of suspected false imprisonment related to loan sharking. Those instances of casino loan sharking represented a 25.5% increase on the 102 cases reported in the first quarter of 2018.
Despite the increase, Wong said there was no intelligence to suggest Macau’s gaming industry was having any negative influence on the security of the local community, with 100% of the false imprisonment victims and 97.6% of loan-sharking victims being foreigners.
He added that police have established a new coordination center in relation to casino security which operates 24 hours a day and is responsible for coordinating investigative officers and four patrol teams deployed across the city’s casino sector.
