Macau Junket Collapse Explained: Suncity and Alvin Chau
How Macau junkets worked, why Suncity boss Alvin Chau got 18 years, and how a 2023 law cut junkets from 235 to 29. Court facts and numbers.
In this article
For a decade, the richest gamblers in Macau rarely dealt with a casino directly. They dealt with a junket: a middleman who flew them in, lent them money, ran a private VIP room and collected the debts afterwards. The biggest of them was Suncity Group. Macau’s junket system collapsed after Suncity boss Alvin Chau was arrested in November 2021 and jailed for 18 years, and a 2023 law banned junkets from sharing casino profits or taking deposits, cutting licensed junkets from 235 at the 2013 peak to 29 in 2026. This explainer covers how the junket model worked, what the court found, and what replaced it.
What a junket was, in one minute
A junket (officially a “gaming promoter”) is a licensed agent that brings high rollers to a casino. In the boom years the deal looked like this:
- Find the player. Agents, often across the border in mainland China, recruited wealthy gamblers.
- Lend the money. Mainland China restricts how much cash people can take out, so the junket extended credit in Macau and recovered it later, off the casino’s books.
- Run the room. The junket operated its own VIP room inside a licensed casino and shared the casino’s win (or loss) on that room.
- Collect the debt. If a player lost on credit, the junket, not the casino, chased the money.
That model made the junkets enormously powerful. Inside Asian Gaming, citing the regulator DICJ, reports that VIP baccarat reached 64.6% of Macau’s gaming revenue in the third quarter of 2013, and DICJ data show 235 licensed junkets that year. Suncity ran up to 17 VIP rooms, around half of Macau’s VIP gambling market, according to Reuters as reported by Radio Free Asia.
Takeaway: the junket was a lender, a travel agent and a casino partner at once, which is exactly why regulators later saw it as a risk.
How the Suncity case unfolded
In late November 2021, police in Wenzhou, mainland China, issued an arrest warrant for Alvin Chau. Macau police arrested him and other senior executives days later, and Macau chose to prosecute the case itself (Hong Kong Free Press). Wenzhou police alleged that a syndicate led by Chau had 199 shareholder-agents, more than 12,000 agents and more than 80,000 gambler members; these were allegations, reported by RFA. Suncity closed all its Macau VIP rooms within days.
On 18 January 2023, Macau’s Court of First Instance sentenced Chau to 18 years in prison in aggregate. According to GGRAsia, judge Lou Ieng Ha found that Chau knew about a long-running under-the-table “multiplier” betting operation for high rollers, supported by several Suncity departments, and that it defrauded the Macau government and casino operators. He was acquitted of money laundering. Of 21 defendants, 12 were convicted and 8 acquitted.
The South China Morning Post reported that Chau was convicted on 162 of the 289 counts he faced, and that the defendants allegedly handled almost HK$824 billion in under-the-table bets between 2013 and 2021, with Macau losing about HK$8.2 billion in tax. The defence said there was no direct evidence tying Chau to the side bets and appealed.
On 3 July 2024, the Court of Final Appeal upheld the 18-year sentence. The fraud conviction had been dropped on appeal in October 2023, but the criminal association and illegal gambling convictions stood, and nine defendants were ordered to pay HK$24.87 billion (about US$3.18 billion) to the Macau government, treated as illegal gains.
Takeaway: this was decided by courts, not rumours. Chau’s conviction is final in Macau.
What “multiplier” betting means
In the trial, a former Suncity IT executive testified that the group had a system for recording “multiplier” bets (GGRAsia, 22 Sep 2022). In general terms, the bet placed on the casino table was only a fraction of the real, privately agreed wager. The casino recorded the small bet; the rest was settled off the books. That is why the court treated it as illegal gambling and as a loss to Macau’s gaming tax, which is charged on recorded casino revenue.
Takeaway: side bets made a casino’s numbers look smaller than the money actually at stake, and the government’s tax bill smaller with them.
Suncity was not the only one
Levo Chan, boss of the rival Tak Chun junket, was arrested in January 2022. He was sentenced to 14 years in April 2023, cut to 13 years on appeal, and the Court of Final Appeal upheld 13 years in November 2024, with HK$1.8 billion owed to Macau (Inside Asian Gaming).
The new rules: what a junket can still do
Macau rewrote the rules while the trials were running. A new law on operating casino games, passed in December 2022, took effect on 1 January 2023. Then a new law to combat illegal gambling crimes took effect on 29 October 2024, raising the maximum sentence for illegal gambling operations from three to eight years.
| Item | Junket era (to 2021) | Since 1 Jan 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Casinos a junket can serve | Several concessionaires | One concessionaire only |
| How the junket earns | Share of the casino’s win on its room | Commission paid by the casino (1.25% of rolling turnover) |
| Taking player deposits | Common | Crime: 2–5 years’ prison |
| Lending to players | Junkets extended credit | Only the concessionaire may grant credit |
| Licensed junkets | 235 (2013) | 29 (2026, cap 50) |
| VIP share of gaming revenue | 46.24% (2019) | 27.48% (2025) |
Sources: Inside Asian Gaming on the 2023 law; AGB, 5 Feb 2026, citing DICJ, for the 2026 licences, credit rule and VIP share.
Takeaway: junkets still exist, but as small, commission-paid agents tied to one casino. The independent VIP room empire is gone.
Where the VIP money went
VIP play did not disappear; it moved in-house. AGB reports that VIP baccarat revenue grew almost 25% in 2025 to about MOP67.99 billion, while Macau’s total gaming revenue reached MOP247.40 billion, about 84.6% of pre-pandemic levels. Casinos now court premium players directly, with their own hosts and credit desks. More on how the business works in our industry coverage.
The illegal side moved too. Macau’s Secretary for Security counted 1,951 gaming-related crimes in January–September 2026, up 12.3%, led by fraud (558 cases) and illegal money exchange for gambling (404). Police also said they shut more than 77,000 illegal gambling websites in the same nine months. Prosecutors in the Chau case said the group had set up gambling platforms outside Macau to draw mainland players into illegal online betting, the same pattern behind the offshore operators in our POGO ban explainer and the Southeast Asia scam compounds story.
Takeaway: when a regulator closes the front door, part of the money looks for a side door, usually unlicensed and online.
What this means for ordinary players
Most people reading this will never sit in a VIP room. But the junket story has three lessons for anyone who gambles online:
- Off-the-books money has no protection. Side bets, private credit and deposits held by a middleman sit outside the licensed system. If the middleman collapses, the money can vanish with it.
- “Agent” deposits are a red flag. If a site asks you to pay an individual or an agent instead of a proper payment method, read our guide to money mule accounts; that account may not be legal.
- Check the licence, not the brand. Big names fall. Use our unlicensed casino checklist and understand why licensed sites run KYC checks before withdrawals.
If you play baccarat, the game the junkets were built on, our baccarat house edge explainer shows why the house wins over time, VIP room or not.
FAQ
What is a junket in Macau?
A licensed gaming promoter that brings high rollers to a casino. Since 2023, a junket can work with only one casino operator and is paid a commission instead of a share of the casino’s win.
Why was Alvin Chau jailed?
Macau’s courts convicted him of criminal association and illegal gambling linked to under-the-table bets. His 18-year sentence was upheld by the Court of Final Appeal on 3 July 2024.
How much money was involved in the Suncity case?
SCMP reported almost HK$824 billion in under-the-table bets between 2013 and 2021. Nine defendants were ordered to pay HK$24.87 billion to the Macau government.
Do junkets still exist in Macau?
Yes, but far fewer: 29 gaming promoters are licensed for 2026, against a cap of 50 and a peak of 235 in 2013.
Is VIP gambling banned in Macau?
No. VIP play is still legal and still grew in 2025, but it is now run by the casino operators, who are the only ones allowed to give players credit.
HotStakes is an independent directory. Some links on this site are affiliate links; we may earn a commission at no cost to you, and it never changes our rankings. Gambling involves risk — only play with money you can afford to lose, and if it stops being fun, seek help. This article is general information based on public court reports and news coverage, not legal advice.
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