A local man was arrested on Sunday for running an illegal mahjong gambling operation, along with 18 others allegedly involved in the case, Public Security Police (PSP) spokesman Wong Wai Chon said during a regular press conference yesterday.
According to Macau’s gaming industry law, only its six gaming concessionaires are permitted to run mahjong gambling operations.
The 60-year-old operator surnamed Chan told the police that he is jobless. The 18 other suspects comprise 11 males and 7 females, aged between 32 and 75. One is a non-resident worker (NRW) who works in construction; the remainder are locals, most of whom claimed to be jobless.
According to Wong, the police received a report on Sunday about illegal mahjong gambling activities in an industrial building in the northern district. They raided a flat on the seventh floor of a residential building on Rua Quatro do Bairro Iao Hon (祐漢新村第四街)) and found 18 individuals suspected of participating in mahjong gambling, apart fromt he suspected operator, Chan. Inside the flat, there were five electronic mahjong tables, four of which were in use at the time.
Under questioning, Chan told the police that he had rented the flat for gambling activities since mid-September 2024 for a monthly payment of HK$19,000. The opening hours were from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m., charging customers 100 patacas per hour as “table rent”. The 18 gamblers, who became witnesses, told the police that they had learnt of the place through friends and mentioned that after winning a mahjong game, they would pay Chan between 10 to 100 patacas as “water money” (水錢)*.
Since the operation started, Chan had earned about 120,000 patacas in profit, and on the day of the raid, he had made 330 patacas, Wong said, adding that the police seized four mahjong tables and 4,900 patacas in cash that day.
Chan has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) and is facing a charge of running an illegal mahjong gambling operation.
* In some contexts, particularly in informal or underground settings, “water money” refers to the interest or fees charged on loans, especially in gambling. It can also refer to the commission or cut taken by a middleman or organiser in such activities. For instance, in a gambling context, the “house” (operator) might take a certain percentage of the winnings as “water money”. – DeepSeek
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) yesterday shows PSP officers escorting the 18 mahjong den gamblers to a police station.
