counterfeit chips cause Macao casino to lose $727,000

On Monday August 21, one of the largest casinos on Macau’s Cotai Strip was robbed of $727,000 by a criminal group using counterfeit chips. Eight men used a total of 804 counterfeit chips to defraud the establishment. After leaving the casino, they headed for mainland China. While Macau police arrested two of the men, the other six fugitives are still at large, reports Inside Asian Gaming.

Macau: fake chips and $727,000 in damages for a casino

On Monday, August 21, 2023, the croupier of a casino located along Cotai Stripin Macau, was cleaning the gaming tables when he noticed some suspicious chipscharacterized by an unusual finish (the surface was rough and the chips did not look authentic). The chips were soon identified as counterfeit, as they lacked the casino’s identification label.

As a result, the establishment was quick to contact the Macau police, who quickly arrested two men from mainland China, on their way back to their home region. The duo were in possession of some 200 dummy chips (worth $306,000).. However, the police investigation confirmed the existence of a total of eight individuals involved in the fraud. It would appear that the group had been scheming inside the casino for two hours, circulating the fake chips between the various gaming tables, including among the regular players, reports Inside Asian Gaming.

Six of the swindlers fled Macau the night after the scam.

After the arrest of two of the group, the other six fled Macau the same night after the robbery. According to GGRAsiathe rest of the band crossed the border gate (the border between China and Macau) and the police are still hot on his trail. Similar to those used in the casino concerned, the investigators have unearthed 112 fake chips in a waste incineration plant. Police believe the escaped crooks disposed of their cargo on their way to China.

According to Inside Asian Gamingthe casino staff who suffered the damage counted all the fake chips that had been used in the establishment. The count came to 493 chips, which were exchanged at the casino cashier by the ten players for $89,260. The initial count excludes the 200 chips found on the two thugs arrested by the police, as well as the 112 chips unearthed in the waste incineration plant. The physical count, the only method of establishing the approximate loss to the casino, comes to 804 chips, representing an estimated loss of $727,000. But it goes without saying that the loss could be much higher…