Macau: Gaming-Related Crime Cases Rise 12.3% as Fraud and Illegal Money Exchange Increase
- Macau police recorded 1,951 gaming-related crime cases from January to September 2026, up from 1,737 in the same period of 2025, an increase of 12.3%.
- Fraud and illegal money exchange for gambling were the two largest categories.
- Gaming-related fraud remained the biggest category, with 558 recorded cases, up 21.3% from 460.
Macau police recorded 1,951 gaming-related crime cases from January to September 2026, up from 1,737 in the same period of 2025, an increase of 12.3%. The figures come from a Chinese-language crime statistics bulletin released on October 9 by the Office of the Secretary for Security, which notes that some of the figures are preliminary.
Fraud and illegal money exchange for gambling were the two largest categories. Some categories fell, including illegal lending for gambling and related detention cases.
Fraud and illegal money exchange lead the increase
Gaming-related fraud remained the biggest category, with 558 recorded cases, up 21.3% from 460. That is about 28.6% of all gaming-related cases. The 98 additional fraud cases made up nearly half of the overall increase, Asia Gaming Brief noted.
Operating an illegal currency exchange for gambling came second, with 404 cases, up 11.9% from 361. Running such an exchange became a criminal offense under Macau’s new law on illegal gambling, which took effect on October 29, 2024, according to a summary by law firm MdME. The offense concerns commercially operated, unauthorized currency-exchange services for gambling; licensed currency-exchange operators are excluded.
That law also changed the baseline. In the first nine months of 2025, gaming-related cases jumped 70.1%, which Macau’s Secretary for Security linked to the new offense and to police widening the range of cases they count as gaming-related, the Chinese-language newspaper Tai Chung Pou reported at the time. Both periods in this year’s comparison fall under the new law.
Not every category went up
The rise was not uniform. The official table shows drops in some categories and increases in others.
| Category (gaming-related) | Jan–Sep 2026 cases | Jan–Sep 2025 cases | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fraud | 558 | 460 | +21.3% |
| Illegal currency exchange for gambling | 404 | 361 | +11.9% |
| Illegal lending for gambling | 132 | 151 | −12.6% |
| Assault | 81 | 64 | +26.6% |
| Breaching a casino-entry ban | 63 | 109 | −42.2% |
| Unlawful detention | 9 | 21 | −57.1% |
The bulletin groups illegal lending for gambling and the related detention cases together, describing both as offenses that had previously seriously affected public security. Lending cases fell to 132 and detention cases to nine.
Overall crime fell slightly
The gaming figures moved against the wider trend. Police opened 9,966 criminal investigation cases across Macau in the first nine months, down 92, or 0.9%, from a year earlier. The Secretary for Security’s office said public order remained stable, with serious violent crime at zero or low levels, Macau Daily Times reported.
Fraud as a whole also fell, to 1,511 cases, down 8.5%. That is not a contradiction with the rise in gaming-related fraud: the two figures are different statistical groupings.
Casino security staff case
The bulletin highlighted one investigation, into a suspected group involving casino security employees and intermediaries. In July, police disclosed the arrest of 14 suspects, including nine casino security employees and five alleged intermediaries. An alleged ringleader was subsequently arrested in mainland China and transferred to Macau.
The bulletin puts the total at 15 key members, including the leader, over alleged offenses including organized crime, extortion and coercion.
Investigators alleged that the group took payments from people suspected of theft, fraud and other violations in exchange for not reporting them to police. Five suspects, including the alleged ringleader, were being held in pre-trial detention as of September 5, the Public Prosecutions Office said, Asia Gaming Brief reported.
As of that update, the suspects were awaiting trial. Neither the bulletin nor Asia Gaming Brief’s report named the resort, which the report described as a Cotai integrated resort.
Enforcement online and in casinos
The Judiciary Police also took down more than 77,000 illegal gambling websites during the first nine months, working through a cooperation mechanism with the gaming industry, the bulletin said.
The security authorities said they had strengthened cooperation with other government departments and relevant industries and refined targeted prevention measures.
