The police in Taiwan announced today that they have dismantled a criminal group suspected of using Macau casinos to launder 33 billion New Taiwan dollars (approximately 893 million euros), derived from illegal online gambling.
Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) stated that the group recruited people to purchase casino chips in Macau using credit cards, which were then converted into cash.
The investigation began in the second half of 2025, after the CIB identified suspicious money flows from multiple bank accounts linked to illegal online casinos and fraud.
According to a CIB statement, the funds were transferred to accounts whose holders requested credit cards with high limits. Members of the group used at least 85 credit cards to buy casino chips in Macau, later converted into Hong Kong dollars.
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The CIB said this is the first cross-border money laundering case using casinos discovered by Taiwanese law enforcement, involving approximately 33 billion New Taiwan dollars.
Local media reported that the police said today, at a press conference, that 20 people were arrested on March 9, including two alleged ringleaders of the group.
The operation also resulted in the freezing of nearly 231 million New Taiwan dollars (6.22 million euros) in bank accounts and the seizure of 2.62 million New Taiwan dollars (71,000 euros) in cash.
The Lusa news agency asked the Macau Financial Intelligence Office (GIF) whether it was monitoring the case but has not received a response.
The number of suspicious transactions reported in Macau casinos, the world capital of gambling, fell 6.1% in 2025, according to official data.
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The GIF stated that the six casino operators in the Chinese region submitted a total of 3,603 suspicious transaction reports related to money laundering or terrorist financing.
Casinos, banks, insurance companies, and other entities — including pawnshops, jewelry stores, real estate agencies, and auction houses — are required to report any transaction equal to or exceeding 500,000 patacas (about 53,600 euros) to the authorities.
In March 2022, the US State Department designated Macau as a major global money laundering hub, highlighting VIP junket operators and the illicit activities they often facilitate.
This came despite the arrest in November 2021 of Alvin Chau Cheok Wa, then the world’s largest VIP gambling junket operator.
According to the GIF’s annual report, Macau was the only member of the Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering to comply with “all 40 international standards” for anti-money laundering.
