Macau casino loses $727,000 on counterfeit chips

On Aug. 21, 2023, one of the most famous casinos in Macau's Kotai Strip lost HK$5.7 million ($727,000) after a criminal group gambled using fake chips at the casino. The group of eight men used a total of 804 chips to buy the casino and tried to flee to mainland China. Macau police arrested two of them and are still searching for six other fugitives, Inside Asian Gaming (IAG) reported.

Fake chips detected by abnormal surface finish:

The names of the casino properties have not been reported, but the money lost is clearly important to any operator. The scam was reportedly detected by a casino dealer who retrieved chips from the table and found an unusual surface finish of 10 chips worth HK$10,000 ($1,275) each. The chips reportedly felt rough and did not look real. According to the IAG, they were immediately found to have been forged because they did not include each identification tag.

2 scammers arrested:

According to reports, the casino reportedly called the police, and the two men from mainland China were immediately arrested. The two men were known to have 200 counterfeit chips worth HK$2.4 million ($306,000), but a police investigation soon found that the scammer, consisting of at least eight people, was involved in the scam. The IAG reported that they had been "operating" inside the gambling facility for at least two hours, distributing the fake chips to game tables and regular gamblers.

Mainland China Boundary:

After two members of the group were arrested, six other members of the group fled from Macau on the same night. According to GGRAsia, they headed to mainland China through Border Gate and police are looking for them. Police reportedly found 112 fake chips at a waste incineration facility during the investigation. Similar to the fake chips used in the property of the affected casino, police reportedly believe that the fleeing fraudulent group disposed of their luggage while heading to the mainland.

Number of chips exposed to loss:

According to the IAG, 493 fake chips were initially counted as being used in the property after casino employees counted them. The chips were allegedly exchanged by 10 gamblers to earn more than HK$700,000 ($89,260). As indicated above, the count could include or exclude 200 chips found with two arrested fraudsters and 112 chips found in incineration facilities and elsewhere, so the physical count was the only way to verify the approximate loss.

In any case, the physical figures reached 804 chips during the investigation, reportedly costing at least HK$5.7 million ($727,000) to the popular casino resort in Kotai Streep. 온라인바둑이