Organised crime linked to high roller gamblers: concerns for new Australian casinos
This story was published 17 days ago September 15, 2014 2:20PM
BOTH Brisbane and Sydney will open new world-class casinos in the coming decade, with the express aim of attracting the business of the world’s VIP gamblers.
This exclusive club of high rollers, also known as casino whales, think nothing of laying down $15,000 per bet, and can drop hundreds of thousands in a single wager.
Chinese high rollers are among the most sought-after customers, and they are brought to the casinos by the junket industry, which transports clients to the resorts and makes their stay as comfortable as possible.
But tonight on ABCTV’s Four Corners, reporter Linton Besser will reveal that these junket operators have links to organised crime, money laundering and violence — and Australian casinos’ chase for profits could open us up to this seedy world of corruption.
Is Australia taking a gamble attracting high rollers? Source: News Limited
Attracting the VIP dollar
The casino industry in Australia is a lucrative business, generating about $5 billion a year.
The NSW Government has awarded a unique “restricted gaming licence” to James Packer’s Crown to build a six-star hotel and casino complex at Barangaroo, which is prime real estate overlooking Sydney Harbour.
The investment won the green light in part because the casino is not designed to target Australian mum-and-dad punters feeding poker machines, but ultra-wealthy gamblers from China.
Crown and Echo Entertainment are also bidding to establish a new casino in the heart of Brisbane at the Queen’s Wharf development.
But with companies keen to claim a greater slice of the global high-roller market, questions remain over whether this is the sort of business Australia wants to attract.
“Casinos are becoming more and more sources of tax revenue for states that don’t have a proper tax base,” Besser told news.com.au.
“There is nothing wrong with a punt, and we’re certainly not saying that Australia shouldn’t have casinos, but the public interest is we should be having a conversation about the extent to which targeting these Chinese high-rollers leaves us open to organised crime,” Besser said.
Four Corners has investigated the operations of junket operators by looking at how they work in Macau, off the coast of China.
Asia’s gambling mecca, Macau. Source: ABC
The region has become Asia’s gaming epicentre, where 70 per cent of the revenue comes from VIPs.
During a three-month period last year, the amount wagered by VIPs at a casino part-owned by James Packer’s business interests tipped $20 billion.
“It’s staggering amounts of money, and Australian casinos want to attract that market for obvious reasons,” Besser said.
Macau’s VIP gambling industry has been boosted in part by the fact that gambling is illegal in mainland China and there is a limit to the amount of money high rollers can take out of the country.
These restrictions have given rise to junket operators that look after Chinese customers engaging in illegal activity.
“Junkets, elsewhere, are companies that simply organise the logistics of bringing them to the casinos. In Macau, the junkets do something else; they loan high rollers the funds to play,” Besser said.
With many Chinese VIPs gambling on credit, there are no legal ways to recover money lent.
“You can’t enforce a debt. If you lend someone money, you can’t then sue them in the court. So it can invite debt collection via extrajudicial means,” Besser said.
“There is this vacuum where organised crime in Macau has flourished.”
Macau in 1964, compared to today. Source: ABC
One gambling expert told Four Corners that the junket operators turn to organised crime to enforce gambling debts through violence or threats of violence.
A violent act in Sydney’s inner west earlier this month exemplifies the shady world of the high roller.
Professional gambler and suspected underworld crime figure Peter Tan Hoang, 36, was shot dead in Croydon Park on September 7 while awaiting trial on a charge of possessing the proceeds of crime. The Vietnamese refugee was arrested at Melbourne’s Crown Casino with $1.5 million in cash in 2012, alleged to have been the proceeds of crime, a charge he denied.
The world of the high roller
With such big bucks up for grabs, VIP gamblers are treated like kings.
“The rooms were the uppermost in luxury, with plenty of staff on hand, huge chandeliers, plush carpets, very refined atmosphere,” Besser said.
“But funnily enough, the players don’t necessarily dress up. I remember one played in a red Slazenger windcheater jacket, jeans and joggers.”
These rooms, where the game of choice is baccarat, have a typical minimum bet of $A15,000, but gamblers can bet up to 40 times that amount.
Major new casinos are coming to Brisbane and Sydney. Picture: Mark Calleja Source: News Corp Australia
As an example of the staggering sums being wagered, one VIP recalled that his friend was ahead by $A1.5 million at one point and down nearly $900,000 only 10 minutes later.
“People were telling us that the gambling culture is different in China. They borrow money or use all their savings to gamble. It’s a major social problem. One of the analysts were spoke to said that Chinese players are hardwired to play,” Besser said.
What’s the risk for Australia?
So how can Australian casinos like Barangaroo attract this lucrative slice of the gaming market without becoming a haven for organised crime?
“They have to be very careful,” Besser said. “(Australian casinos) say they do their utmost to ensure organised crime does not infiltrate here.
“But in Australia, the rules and regulations about how junkets are examined … is different in every jurisdiction and there are some holes in our regulations.
“Crown say they run a clean ship, we think they absolutely try to … but there are real questions to be asked about how this is regulated.”
Casinos and Resorts Australasia chief executive John Lee said the sector he represented was the most heavily regulated, bar none.
“In Australia, we have strong laws and regulations about the integrity of all financial transactions,” Mr Lee said.
Every transaction of $10,000 or more must be reported to the national anti-money-laundering regulator Austrac.
“No system is perfect; there has been a very rare occasion where one of the individuals has had some form of link to illegal activity, and it is, as it should be, the casinos’ responsibility to report that to Austrac,” Mr Lee said.
He said Australia differed from places like Macau because its casinos had a strong relationship with the police and were proactive in reporting suspicious activity.
He also said that Australia’s major casino operators — Crown and Echo — were both regularly audited and found to be “100 per cent compliant” with regulations.
Crown told Four Corners that it had been “extensively investigated and in all cases has [been] found to be suitable by gaming regulators in a number of jurisdictions in Australia and worldwide”.
“High Rollers — High Risk?” airs tonight on Four Corners, reported by Linton Besser and presented by Kerry O’Brien, at 8.30pm on ABC.
Four Corners reporter Linton Besser. Source: ABC
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Professional gambler and suspected underworld crime figure Peter Tan Hoang, 36, was shot dead in Croydon Park on September 7 while awaiting trial on a charge of possessing the proceeds of crime. The Vietnamese refugee was arrested at Melbourne’s Crown Casino with $1.5 million in cash in 2012, alleged to have been the proceeds of crime, a charge he denied.
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