The Judiciary Police (PJ) arrested three loan sharks on Wednesday, after they collected HK$100,000 as “interest” from a gambler in a local casino, PJ spokesman Cheong Siu Keong said during a regular press conference yesterday.
Cheong identified the three male suspects, all from the Chinese mainland, as a 28-year-old businessman surnamed Li, a 22-year-old decorator surnamed Wu, and a 31-year-old surnamed He who told the police that he is jobless.
According to Cheong, the female gambler, also from the Chinese mainland, was approached by Li in a casino in Cotai in the early hours of Wednesday. Li offered a deal where they were to pool gaming chips* to place bets on the gaming table. The gambler agreed to Li’s purported “chip-pooling” deal that they each bet HK$200,000 chips in total, Cheong said.
The deal’s terms also included 20 percent of the betting money as “interest” on each winning bet.
Cheong said that after settling the terms, the female gambler and Li went to another casino in Cotai where she started to gamble, accompanied by Li and his two accomplices Wu and He.
However, Cheong said, after the female gambler had played on the gaming table for a while, an argument ensued, which alerted casino security personnel.
The casino reported the incident to the police, after which PJ officers arrived at the scene and investigated the case. According to Cheong, the PJ officers found that the three loan sharks did not place any chips on the gaming table throughout the whole period when the woman was gambling.
Cheong said that when the female gambler still had HK$122,100 gaming chips available, she started to notice that the trio had never placed any gaming chips as promised in their deal, and started to argue with them. The trio then told the woman that they would only start to place their chips on the gaming table after gambling away all her HK$200,000 chips, resulting in a heated argument between them.
According to Cheong, the PJ officers seized five smartphones and HK$40,000 in gaming chips from the trio, while the HK$122,100 gaming chips were also seized from the female gambler.
The three suspects have been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing charges of providing an illegal gambling loan.
Police nab 2 illegal currency exchange dealers
Meanwhile, Cheong also said during yesterday’s regular press conference that the Judiciary Police arrested two men from the Chinese mainland on Wednesday for engaging in illegal currency exchange activities.
Cheong identified the two suspects as a 47-year-old surnamed Dong and a 26-year-old surnamed Yang, both of whom told the police that they are unemployed.
On Wednesday morning, Cheong said, PJ officers on patrol in a casino in the city centre saw Dong and Yang engaging in an illegal currency exchange deal with a male gambler in a smoking lounge there.
According to Cheong, the PJ officers intercepted the three men. They found that the gambler, also from the Chinese mainland, had exchanged 32,000 yuan for HK$35,000 gaming chips from the two illegal currency exchange dealers.
The police seized HK$26,000 gaming chips, 10,000 yuan in cash, and two smartphones from the two suspects, who admitted to having engaged in illegal currency exchange activities in Macau since November last year, claiming to have earned a total of HK$16,000.
* In the context of gambling, the purpose of pooling chips is primarily to combine financial resources, enabling participants to place larger collective bets than they could individually. This strategy allows players to access higher-stakes tables, spread their risk across more wagers, and potentially increase their chances of winning a significant payout. Ultimately, it serves as a collaborative approach to gaming, whether for social enjoyment or strategic advantage. – DeepSeek
This undated handout photo provided by the Judiciary Police (PJ) yesterday shows the chips and smartphones seized from the “chip-pooling” case.
