The Public Prosecutor’s Office in Taiwan has charged 10 people with using casinos in Macau to launder 33 billion New Taiwan dollars (around €893 million) from illegal online gambling.
The Yunlin District Prosecutors Office, in western Taiwan, announced late Monday the conclusion of an investigation into a criminal group that allegedly recruited individuals to purchase casino chips in Macau using credit cards.
The suspects — including two alleged ringleaders, a 37-year-old man surnamed Chen and a 36-year-old man surnamed Lin — were charged with money laundering and other crimes, prosecutors said in a statement.
Hours earlier, Taiwanese police had said the two men, who remain at large and are subject to 20-year arrest warrants, operated an illegal online gambling network.
Read more about this topic: Taiwan dismantles group linked to money laundering through Macau casinos
Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said the investigation began after identifying suspicious flows from multiple bank accounts linked to criminal activity. According to a CIB statement, the funds were transferred to accounts whose holders applied for high-limit credit cards. Members of the group used at least 85 credit cards to purchase casino chips in Macau, which were later converted into Hong Kong dollars.
The CIB said this is the first cross-border money laundering case involving casinos uncovered by Taiwanese authorities.
Photo: HM
The operation led to the arrest of 20 people, the freezing of nearly 231 million New Taiwan dollars (€6.22 million) in bank accounts, and the seizure of 2.62 million New Taiwan dollars (€71,000) in cash.
The Lusa news agency asked Macau’s Financial Intelligence Office whether it was monitoring the case but has not yet received a response. The number of suspicious transactions reported in Macau’s casinos — the global capital of gambling — fell by 6.1% in 2025, according to official data.
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The office said the six casino operators in the Chinese region submitted a total of 3,603 reports of suspicious transactions 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 above 500,000 patacas (about €53,600) to authorities.
In March 2022, the United States Department of State designated Macau as a major global money laundering hub, pointing to VIP junket operators and the “illicit activities they often facilitate.”
