US-based union issues letter to Beijing on junket regulation

The International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) has sent a letter to the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) highlighting the flaws in Macau’s regulation of junket operators, the US-based union said in a statement on Monday.
IUOE explained that Macau law authorizes only licensed gaming promoters to engage in the promotion of junket activities. Their license depends on the promoter’s substantial shareholders and administrators being deemed “suitable” by the Macau Bureau of Gaming Inspection and Coordination.
However, the union stressed that the law does not require the same strict licensing protocols “for other influential participants in the junket industry, such as the third-party financiers, credit guarantors and profit participants of gaming promoters.”
“Through these channels individuals with problematic backgrounds are positioned to acquire substantial interest in and control over junket operations,” it added.
IUOE representative Jeff Fiedler acknowledged that the Communist Party’s anti-corruption campaign saw “a key point of interest” in Macau’s gambling industry. But Mr Fiedler stated, “We believe that the Party’s current anti-
corruption initiatives cannot fully meet their objectives without increased regulation of Macau’s junket industry.”
“If a third party acquires all of the profits of a junket or finances the bulk of its operations, then the third party is positioned to exert control over the junket,” he continued.
Mr Fiedler stated that the blame for the lack of regulation does not fall entirely on Macau, as US gambling regulators “have been deficient in oversight of American casino operations” as well.
Meanwhile, Macau Gaming Watch, a website sponsored by IUOE, revealed that China Star Entertainment Limited, a Hong Kong-listed investor in Macau gaming operators, has extended three separate HKD75 million loans to three unnamed junket companies. CP