The Macau government will advance with a new bill set to help strengthen illegal gambling crimes prevention by increasing penalties for illegal gambling offenses and granting new investigation powers to security authorities, allowing night home searches and the use of undercover agents.
The Executive Council concluded the discussion on a new bill proposal entitled “Law on Combating Illegal Gambling Crimes,” which will be submitted for consideration to the Macau Legislative Assembly.
In its presentation today, Secretary for Administration and Justice André Cheong Weng Chon advocated that the new regulations would help “promote the sustainable and healthy development in the gambling sector” and while “refining” the sector’s supervisory regime within the realm.
The draft bill proposal will follow the formulation of the general gaming law enforced this year and new Legal Regime on Granting Credit for Casino Gambling presented this year.
To new regulations propose, for example, the increase of penalties for offenses related to illegal gambling and the enhancement of criminal and procedural norms, such as extending the maximum duration of pretrial detention.
It also includes provisions to prevent detainees of illegal gambling and mutual betting crimes from communicating with anyone other than their lawyer before the judicial interrogation.
“Taking into account the high degree of evasion and concealment of crimes associated with illegal gambling, the bill proposal introduces provisions on undercover agents and creates a new protection regime for individuals providing information or cooperating with the police in uncovering criminals,” Cheong stated.
The bill further clarifies the definition of parallel betting crimes, in order to “avoid unnecessary discussions in terms of law application”, including this act within the scope of illegal gambling operations.
Home searches would also be allowed between 9:00 PM and 7:00 AM if the new law is approved, a change the authorities considered to be important to improve criminal investigation means, since “illegal gambling and mutual betting crimes are typically committed during the night”.
The new regulations will also explicitly prohibit the exploitation, promotion, and organization of online gambling and mutual bets, regardless of whether the systems, devices, and computer equipment involved are installed in Macau or not.
In order to strengthen the fight against illegal gambling-related crimes, the bill proposal increases the penalties for offenses related to illegal gambling and enhances their respective criminal and procedural norms, including extending the maximum duration of pretrial detention.
Macau recorded 422 cases of crimes related to gaming operations in the first half of 2023, a 110 percent increase compared to the same period last year, in which 198 cases connected to the gaming field were registered.
However, the city’s overall criminal record has reportedly decreased since the pre-pandemic period. In comparison to 2019, the present gaming-related crime count have fallen 50 percent over the last four years, according to the presented statistics.
Most crimes detected involved illegal currency exchange operations, which authorities warned have long affected public security in casinos and surrounding areas, resulting in serious crimes such as fraud, imprisonment, wounding, and even murder.
