Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau called it the first case of cross-border money laundering through casinos in the country’s history․
How the Scheme Worked
The scheme relied on credit cards and nominee accounts․ Funds from these accounts were used to continuously finance a gambling enterprise in Taiwan․ Next‚ the funds would go through a chain of nominee accounts and be added to the credit cards of recruited participants as overpayments to greatly inflate their credit limits on their credit cards․
Then the contestants travelled to Macau and used the cards to buy chips from the casino there before playing almost no games and swapping them for Hong Kong dollars․ This enabled the dirty cash to appear as legitimate casino wins when they cashed the chips․
Scale of the Operation
Between mid-2024 and mid-2025 about NT$278 billion (US$8․66 billion) passed through the system while NT$33․1 billion (US$1․03 billion) was transferred to accounts in Taiwan․ During the arrests‚ the police seized NT$258 million in cash and also phones‚ cash counters and dozens of credit cards․
One participant reportedly funneled NT$19 million through credit cards within 10 days‚ with commissions of 1․5% on each transaction․
Who Was Behind It
The alleged mastermind‚ a 31-year-old organizer‚ recruited the suspects and contacted people in Macau․ According to Taiwanese media‚ the plan was part of Jinzhou Entertainment City‚ a company responsible for illegal online gambling in Taiwan‚ Cambodia‚ and Vietnam․ Two alleged ringleaders‚ Chen and Lin‚ remain at large․
Why Macau casinos were such a valuable tool
Macau is the only territory in China where casinos are allowed to operate legally․ In 2025‚ the casino gambling market in Macau generated $30․9 billion in gross revenues․ Because of the amount of cash handled within casinos and lack of tracking of chips and winnings‚ casinos are widely used for money laundering․
What the Case Changes
The case also demonstrated the links between illegal online gambling in Taiwan and cross-border money laundering‚ prompting the Criminal Investigation Bureau to step up efforts to identify laundering routes and develop investigative capacity․ It also plans to work more closely with international law enforcement agencies․
This isn’t the first time Macau is at the center of casino financial schemes involving other markets in the region‚ however․ Despite stricter regulation‚ due to large amounts of cash and foreign tourists‚ it is difficult to eliminate every loophole․
