The empyrean towers of fortune that once kissed the skies of Macau’s glittering skyline have witnessed the stunning fall of a gambling titan. The city’s highest court just handed down a verdict that sealed the fate of Alvin Chau, once hailed as the king of the VIP junket world, now fettered by an 18-year sentence for his transgressions in illegal gambling and consorting with criminal elements.
Chau’s appeal to the esteemed Macau Court of Final Appeal to mitigate this harsh sentence was firmly rejected, etching the final chapter of a saga that has been as dramatic as any high-stakes game played on the Suncity tables he once masterfully controlled. This marked the conclusion of a string of failed attempts to overturn his January 2023 sentencing. The dice had been thrown, and the outcome was immutable.
As the mastermind behind Suncity, Macau’s largest but now defunct junket operator, Chau was once synonymous with power and wealth in this world-renowned gambling enclave. In the halcyon days of 2014 — Macau’s golden year — Chau’s empire was responsible for churning out an astonishing 25% of the VIP market revenue. To grasp the enormity of this figure, one must comprehend that this was more than the gaming returns of the entire state of Nevada, the beating heart of America’s own gambling industry.
Chau’s Suncity conglomerate soared beyond mere gambling, expanding its reach into realms of casinos, property, and entertainment. Its core operation was nothing short of cinematic: jet-setting mainland China’s elite into Macau, bankrolling their lust for the gamble, and in doing so elegantly circumventing the mainland’s stern restrictions on hard currency flow.
Draped in the allure of a playboy lifestyle, rumors persisted of shadowy links to a triad past. Signs began to surface, unsettling hints that Beijing’s patience with Suncity and the broader junket industry was thinning. Accusations of money laundering and facilitating the illicit flight of capital from mainland China clung to the junkets like cobwebs.
The blow came in 2019 when Suncity found itself in the crosshairs of a financial publication run by the state’s very own Xinhua News Agency. Allegations erupted, accusing Suncity of funneling billions through offshore online gambling operations that preyed on the Chinese mainland market, all from the operational havens of the Philippines and Cambodia.
The hammer fell in November 2021. Prosecutors in Wenzhou, eastern China, scribbled Chau’s name on an arrest warrant. In swift succession, Macau authorities had him clutched in their grasp, piling on charges of directing a sinuous criminal network, facilitating illicit gambling, engaging in deceptive practices, and partaking in the sordid web of money laundering.
The shadow of an $8.3 billion fraud hung over Chau and his high-ranking officials within Suncity. Accusations swirled around intricate “under-the-table” bets, extended to VIP clients like forbidden fruit. These covert wagers multiplied stakes on official gambits placed within Macau’s glitzy casinos, later to be reconciled in the shadows, far from the prying eyes of tax collectors.
In October 2023, the Court of Second Instance reasserted Chau’s 18-year sentence, albeit discarding the fraud conviction but upholding the multitude of his other criminal charges. The court not only affirmed the chains binding Chau but also escalated the restitution due to the aggrieved government of Macau to a staggering US$3.2 billion.
Thus, this week, the solemn and unyielding Macau Court of Final Appeal laid to rest Alvin Chau’s last hope of reprieve. As the curtains draw close on this once-iconic figure, his former empire now a cautionary tale amongst the fabled annals of Macau’s gambling lore, the die is truly cast, and the game, at long last, is over.
