Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming April 2016 22 Feature In Focus citizens, so I think the situation has been largely under control in the underworld and by the police,” he says. But that’s not the same as saying there are less triads in the VIP room sector. A 2013 report by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission stated, “Public media and intelligence sources have affiliated all but one of the seven VIP Room operator groups of interest with reputed Asian organized crime figures.” In 2010 New Jersey’s regulator refused MGM a gambling license because of the operator’s Macau joint venture with Stanley Ho’s daughter Pansy. The reason it gave was Ho family links to organized crime. For the same reason, Singapore demanded Malaysian operator Genting end all dealings with Ho before it could open a casino in the city state. Sonny Lo identifies two trends in triad activity in Macau since 1999. First, the gangs have reverted to an earlier convention agreed on with Stanley Ho; that they keep a low profile and don’t make open trouble. “To achieve the goal of money-making, they do not wish to scare off customers,” says T Wing Lo in his paper. “The junkets do not often use violence to fight for territories and collect debts, mainly because their triad backgrounds provide a reputation for violence that reduces the actual use of violence in extra-legal governance.” According to Lo, casinos are eager towork with triads of reputation because then nobody will dare to make trouble. Maintaining order inside VIP rooms is good for business. As one Macau citizen puts it, “You need insurance whenever a considerable amount of money is involved. A high roller will choose a junket that’s well connected to be confident he is protected.” In 2002, the Macau government passed junket legislation, laying down rules for an industry that under Stanley Ho had been unregulated. To a large extent this was to satisfy the need for incoming American operators Wynn, Sands and MGM to operate under US-style regulations; a requirement demanded of them by their own government. Henry Pontell says the main effect of this was to create an extra layer of operations between the triads and casinos. “As soon as they tack on a new regulation a new company or something else springs up to push back from the regulatory control,” he says. “Organized crime will always find regulatory holes. Whenever a government adds regulations there will be openings for organized crime to exist.” The second trend Sonny Lo identifies has been expansion of triad networks into China. “On the one hand triad activities have become Casinos are eager to work with triads of reputation because then nobody will dare to make trouble. Maintaining order inside VIP rooms is good for business. As one Macau citizen puts it, “You need insurance whenever a considerable amount of money is involved. A high roller will choose a junket that’s well connected to be confident he is protected.” Gambling kingpin Stanley Ho worked with triads before the 2002 liberalization of Macau’s gaming industry. Today, overseas jurisdictions continue to shun casino operators with links to his family. arrived. But I never heard of triads after that,” says Wang Changbin, Associate Professor at the Macao Polytechnic Institute’s Gaming Teaching and Research Centre. “I don’t think triads are a problem now. Maybe they’re active in some small VIP rooms.” What happened? Most people interviewed for this article say the incoming Chinese let it be known they would stamp on behavior that threatened Macau’s social stability and tarnished its image abroad. “I read there were guns left in the streets because the PLA said they would kill anybody with firearms,” says Henry Pontell. To Westerners this may sound fantastic. But many Chinese on the mainland don’t doubt the police are capable of extrajudicial measures. Sonny Lo, a Professor at the Hong Kong Institute of Education, says the post-colonial government has done a commendable job of rooting out corruption in its police force. “Since the handover we haven’t seen obvious cases of violence causing the death of