great article

very true... I was abit disappointed because was expecting it to be a chinese version of Las Vegas and it is not...

Great article, thanks for posting.

Junket operator sounds like it'd be a sweet gig.

Still don't get what junket operators actually "do."



Why don't casinos themselves have their own junket operators?

Good article, thanks. I'd say Tom is by far the best the best poster in NVG but it feels a lot like damning with with faint praise.

Still... no respect

sounds like JO's rent the space and run a show (mini casino) for their clients and pay a very high but worthwhile cut to the venue...worthwhile because of all the "jewlery" commish they can make by being the referral dood; the sick amounts they gamble (loose); and the clients just want to play and pray

What happens if/when the mainland government decides to licence casinos in one of its own cities to cash in themselves?

The casinos are full though so giving away 60% of your revenue is idiotic.

IIRC, Due to some laws in China there is a limit for nationals on taking money out of the mainland, so JO provide loans in Macau for a fee to gamblers that exceed the mainland limit to circumvent the law.

How do guys who play the big game get money in Macau? The same ways Hall cited in the article?

Well for starters , hell will freeze over.

Great read!

The old reach-around.

Because it's a dirty business and casinos don't want to be directly involved with anything that may threaten their license.

The junket operators are often linked to triads. You can give your money to the junket operator in China or HK, and when you arrive in Macau they will provide you the chips. The money doesn't cross borders.

They also provide credit and if you don't pay, well...they'll take care of that.

FYI squeaky clean Singapore bans junket operators altogether for its casinos. Interesting fact - Singapore has 2 casinos (Sands and Resorts World). Those 2 casinos make more than the entire Vegas strip in gambling volume. A large portion of the gamblers are from China as well.

BTW the best gig in Macau related to poker is undoubtedly the insurance providers. They provide bad-beat insurance with a juice of about 20%. Then imagine EVERY all-in hand involving Chinese businessmen to include insurance. And it's sold per street.

Pretty sure there's some backdoor dealings as the job is literally printing money.

+1

another reason is/was, that casinos didn't have necessary connections the mainland to get the high rollers. i read recently, that they try to get rid of the junkets now that they have a customer database.

china has also very strict limitations about money transfers. i can't remember teh exact numbers, but was like a chinese customer could only get 2k-ish per day on a atm and could only have a small amount in cash. so credits are vital ... well were, b/c a lot of the high rollers got international bank accounts (another reason why the casinos are trying to get rid of the junkets)

Do the guys providing insurance actually have the money when it doesn't go their way?

From a few months ago but pretty incredible story.

A shareholder involved with one of the junkets, embezzled US$ 1.3 Billion.

Story is kinda hard to believe given the massive amount of money involved. I haven't heard any update about this story since.

Macau casino junket shareholder absconds with $1.3b of investor funds

I assume he ran very very away and is living in a lavishly outfitted cave somewhere.

Nerd your incorrect on that. Since 2004, when I first came to China, most are able to transfer any amounts throughout an ATM to another person. Much easier process then the west.

As far as taking money out from an ATM, that may vary. I have a limit of about 3k usd a day, but other cards may have an unlimited amount.

Insurance guys always pay out. It's Macau...

Is there any good youtube links to documentaries on Macau?

Vice needs to do something on the cash games in Macau.

Is anyone borovetzing the airport?

They're just playing 9-handed NLHE with stakes about 2-3x higher than what people saw on High Stakes Poker. Is it really that interesting to anyone who isn't a poker player?