Macau’s gambling offenses law “Law to Combat Crimes of Illegal Gambling” came into effect on Tuesday, October 29, after being published in the city’s Official Gazette on Monday. On October 16, the city’s Legislative Assembly gave the act its last reading as a bill.
The “multiplier” practice is specifically targeted by the new law as an unlawful operation of games of chance.
The multiplier was brought up as a tax fraud issue during the 2022 criminal prosecutions of a number of former Macau junket bosses. The multiplier was defined as an under-the-table wager that multiplies the reported amount of the on-table wager by a certain number.
Additionally, the new regulation that was published on Monday forbids the marketing or operation of unlicensed internet gaming. The government has said that it “does not have any plans” to allow internet gambling to be a public concession.
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Additionally, the new law makes unlicensed money exchange associated to gambling illegal. Law enforcement against unlicensed money changers for gambling has recently increased in both Macau and the mainland.
Defining and establishing the sanctions for any unlawful operation of games of fortune, mutual betting, online games of fortune or online mutual betting, and lotteries is another noteworthy feature of the new act, which overhauls the current illicit gaming regime.
For many specified offenses, the new law establishes a prison sentence of “one to eight years.” These are mutual betting, online gambling, and the unlawful operation of games of chance.
The maximum prison sentence was increased from three years, which was the maximum under the former legal system that dealt with illicit gambling, to three years for similar offenses.
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