PSP cracks illegal mahjong ring, arrests five
The Public Security Police Force (PSP) revealed it has cracked a case related to the illegal exploitation of the mahjong game, a force spokesperson said yesterday during the regular press conference of the Macau police forces.
According to the spokesperson, a total of five people were detained in the operation including the “ring leader,” a man in his fifties said to be the owner of an engineering company in whose office the illegal gambling activity was taking place.
The PSP said it acted on a tipoff that informed the force that in this company office, located at the Avenida do General Castelo Branco, illegal gambling activities were taking place.
When arriving on the scene, the officers found 10 people in the attic of the commercial space. Four of them were playing mahjong, the other six were six playing chess and chatting.
Further investigation revealed the suspect who is the alleged ring leader started to operate illegal gambling activity in 2021 when he acquired two automatic mahjong tables and began to charge a fee of 10 patacas per player to join the games.
According to his testimony to the police, he earned about 3,000 patacas from the activity.
The PSP said that the man was sent to the Public Prosecutions Office to be charged under the provisions of Article 12 of Law 8/96/M which states, “Anyone who, in a commercial establishment, residence or other premises, exploits the game of «mahjong», with lucrative intentions, is punished with imprisonment for up to 1 year or with a fine.”
As for the other four suspects caught while playing, the PSP said that the case has been transferred to the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau for follow-up.
