The Public Security Police (PSP) raided on Monday an illegal mahjong parlour in a ground-floor shop on Rua de Tomé Pires in San Kio district, where PSP officers arrested five locals, comprising the parlour operator and four gamblers, PSP spokesman Lam Keong said at a regular press conference yesterday.
Lam identified the quintet as a male surnamed Kuok, 34, a casino dealer; a male surnamed Leong, 55, a casino pit chief; a female surnamed Lei, 50, a casino dealer; as well as a female surnamed Ng, 51, and a male surnamed Cheang, 50s, who both told the police that they are unemployed. The quintet were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) on Tuesday, where Kuok faces the charge of running an illegal gambling business, while Leong, Cheang, Ng and Lei each face an illegal gambling charge.
Lam said that the Public Security Police were recently tipped off about unlawful gambling and the operation of a mahjong parlour in a ground-floor shop on Rua de Tomé Pires, adding that PSP officers were dispatched to the place on Monday afternoon, where they found Leong, Ng, Cheang and Lei playing mahjong.
Under questioning, according to Lam, the quartet said that they got to know about the operation of a mahjong gambling parlour there in February this year, adding that they began playing mahjong at 4 p.m. that day.
During the PSP investigation, Lam said, Kuok, the parlour operator, arrived at the scene, and told the police that he had rented the shop and run the illegal mahjong gambling business since early March last year. Lam added that Kuok failed to show the shop’s rental contract.
With a charge of 10 patacas per game for each gambler, Kuok had earned 5,000 patacas so far, said Lam, who quoted Kuok as insisting that he is friends with the four gamblers, because of which he provide them with the door passcode so that they could “have fun” in the shop.
During the raid, Lam noted, the police seized a mahjong table, two sets of mahjong and chips as evidence.
According to Macau’s gaming legislation, commercial mahjong businesses can only be run by the city’s gaming concession or sub-concession operators.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) yesterday shows the mahjong table and a set of mahjong tiles seized from an illegal mahjong parlour in San Kio district on Monday.
