Macau Police Uncover Two Baccarat Scams
It is not easy to cheat when playing baccarat online, especially when playing online baccarat. Despite this, two cases of dealer collusion at the Macau baccarat tables have been uncovered by the police in recent months, with combined losses approaching HK$1.9 million. According to the police, both incidents involved baccarat dealers working with players to manipulate the betting.
July Arrests Following Cotai Scam
The most recent case took place on the Cotai Strip. It involved a 30-year-old female baccarat dealer, with the surname Chan, and two Mainland Chinese gamblers known as Li and Liu, both aged 36. The three have now been arrested. According to the Judiciary Police, Chan had been employed at the casino since 2018, and she is accused of orchestrating a scheme that enabled her accomplices to place bets after the game outcome was known.
The Cotai casino reported the suspicious activity on July 8 after detecting irregularities at the baccarat table. Surveillance footage from July 2 showed Chan permitting a HK$3,000 bet to be placed after the result had been revealed, then awarding a payout to the players.
A more serious fraud took place on July 7, when Li, Liu, and an unidentified third person lost HK$60,000 in bets. Instead of recording the loss, Chan allegedly moved the losing chips into the winning area and awarded a HK$120,000 payout, which effectively doubled the money returned to the players.
The three suspects were detained at the venue on July 9, and the police recovered more than HK$118,000 in cash and gaming chips from Li and Liu. Investigators say all three admitted to taking part in the scheme, although Chan has insisted that she received no financial reward for her role. Authorities believe at least one more accomplice remains at large, and they are working to locate them.
Under Macau’s gaming regulations, manipulating betting outcomes or colluding with casino staff is considered criminal fraud, which can be punished with prison terms, fines, and permanent exclusion from the industry.
Earlier High-Stakes Fraud Exposed
A few weeks before the Cotai arrests, police uncovered another case of insider fraud at a different Macau casino, and it was valued at HK$1.76 million. The scam, which ran between May 25 and June 7, involved a former baccarat dealer and a Mainland Chinese gambler.
The suspects were revealed to be a 25-year-old unemployed Macau resident and a 38-year-old unemployed man from Mainland China. The dealer, who had worked at the casino since 2023, allegedly allowed the gambler to place delayed bets in situations when no other players were present.
According to the investigators, the scam exploited the “banker wins with 6 points” outcome, which pays 22 times the bet. After the result had been revealed, the gambler would place late bets ranging from HK$5,000 to HK$15,000, and the dealer reportedly awarded payouts of between HK$110,000 and HK$330,000 per round.
The pair managed to run the scheme undetected for two weeks until casino surveillance analysts noticed anomalies on June 25. The following day, both suspects were arrested.
Police say the two men admitted to splitting the illegal winnings equally, but that they had already lost the money through gambling. The dealer had resigned from his position on June 7, citing personal reasons, before the investigation began. Both men have been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office on charges of “fraud involving a considerable amount.”
Impact on Macau’s Gaming Sector
Both of these cases have sent minor shockwaves through Macau’s gaming industry. The Cotai case was widely reported in the local press, and it is expected to result in operators reviewing how they train their dealers, reinforcing their monitoring systems, and speeding up internal audits.
Macau’s gaming regulator has already issued stricter requirements for dealer rotation, enhanced compliance training, and tougher penalties for insider misconduct. With two baccarat scams in Macau in such short succession, reforms are certainly needed.
