The Second Standing Committee of the Macau Legislative Assembly has revealed that, following discussions between legislators and the government, a new provision will be added to the Illegal Gaming Offence bill to criminalize money exchange gangs.
The government has previously advocated against criminalizing money exchange gangs, citing complications in legal processes required to make such a change. However, both the mainland and Macau police have recently stepped up their efforts to crack down on these syndicates, with a murder case in a Macau hotel this week having pushed further debate on the issue.
At a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Macau Legislative Assembly on Friday to discuss the Illegal Gaming Offences bill, government officials changed their stance and told legislators that new articles will be added to the law to criminalize money exchange gangs.
The new article is called "Unlawful exchange of money for the purpose of betting" and states, "A person who carries on a business of exchanging loans and coins for the purpose of gambling without authorization in accordance with the law shall be liable to a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment". The minimum penalty under the law is one month's imprisonment.
This provision also stipulates that any unsanctioned money exchange business conducted in a casino or an ancillary facility of a casino, including hotels, entertainment complexes or other commercial facilities - considered to form any part of an integrated resort - will be categorized as an offence.
The Chairman of the Committee, Chan Chak Mo, said, "This means that as long as illegal money exchange is carried out within the premises of casinos or their ancillary facilities, the law enforcement officers can regard such exchange as being carried out for the purpose of gambling, which is a contravention of the law."
Chan added that there were financial laws to regulate instances when illegal money exchange business is conducted outside of a casino or integrated resort.
"The problem of money exchange gangs has become more and more serious and a lot of problems have occurred, including the disturbance of other gamblers and the operation of the casinos, and a lot of members have called for the criminalization of money exchange gangs," he continued.
There will also be additional penalties under the new provision, with those found to be part of a money exchange gang to be banned from entering any Macau casino for two to 10 years.
A final vote on the new provision will be completed within this year, Chan said.