The Judiciary Police (PJ) raided an illegal mahjong parlour in Areia Preta district on Wednesday where a local construction worker was arrested for operating the parlour, PJ spokesman Leng Kam Lon said during a regular press conference yesterday.
Leng identified the operator as a 61-year-old local man surnamed Wong who told the police that he is a construction worker.
Leng said during the press conference that the police “did not have further personal information on the suspect to provide” when asked by reporters about the matter, while local media outlets, such as the Portuguese TV channel of public broadcaster TDM, yesterday reported that the case’s suspect is said to be Wong Wai Man, who represents the Mutual Help Grassroots list which submitted candidacy nomination signatures of registered voters endorsing the group’s candidacy for the upcoming direct legislative election to the Legislative Assembly Electoral Affairs Commission (CAEAL) last week.
Wong Wai Man, commonly dubbed Captain Macau by netizens, heads the grassroots Macau Bar Benders Association.
According to Leng, the police were recently tipped off about the possibly unlawful operation of a mahjong parlour in a ground-floor shop unit on Rua do Canal Novo (淡붉劤쌍) in Areia Preta district, after which PJ officers began to put the shop under surveillance on Tuesday night.
After seeing several people entering and leaving the unit, the officers entered the premises in the early hours of Wednesday where they saw eight gamblers playing on two of the 11 electronic mahjong tables set up there.
While the officers were investigating at the scene, Leng said, four other people entered the shop, after which they admitted to the officers that they intended to play mahjong there.
Parlour operating for 3 months, earning 8,800 patacas
According to Leng, the officers seized 18 sets of mahjong tiles, 369 circular gaming chips, 918 rectangular gaming chips, and a pack of 56 poker cards.
The eight who were playing mahjong and the four who entered the unit while the police officers were there comprise nine males and three females, according to Leng, who said that the 12 people comprise young and middle-aged local residents and non-locals.
The police took Wong and the 12 people in for questioning. Under questioning by the police, Leng said, Wong refused to cooperate by not providing any details about the case. However, Leng said that after investigating the case, the police believe that the illegal parlour had been operating for at least three months during which Wong charged 200 patacas, by electronic payment, every four to six hours for each mahjong table.
Since its operation, Leng said, the illegal mahjong parlour had earned at least 8,800 patacas.
Leng said that Wong had been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) for further investigation, facing a charge of illegally operating a mahjong parlour.
The other 12 people face a fine for playing mahjong at an illegal mahjong parlour.
Prosecutor’s statement
After yesterday afternoon’s police regular press conference, the Public Prosecutions Office issued a statement in the evening about the case, mentioning some of the case’s details announced by the police. The statement also identified the case’s suspect as a local construction worker.
The MP statement underlined that after investigating, the Public Prosecutions Office has concluded that “there was strong evidence” indicating that the suspect violated Article 14 of the Law on Illicit Gambling, according to which those who run a mahjong parlour, without official authorisation, with the intention of making a profit, face a prison term of up to one year or a fine.
The statement said that upon recommendation of the Public Prosecutions Office, the examining magistrate decided to impose bail conditions on the suspect.
The MP statement also said that “the illicit operations of gambling activities undermine the order of Macau’s gaming and tourism industry, causing negative impacts on the city’s economic and financial stability. Therefore, if any individual has committed such offences, the Public Prosecutions Office will definitely pursue the offender’s criminal liability in order to safeguard Macau’s overall interests”.
The current Law on Illicit Gambling, Law 20/2024, came into force in late October last year after its enactment by the legislature earlier that month.
It has replaced the previous one enacted back in 1996 when Macau was still under temporary Portuguese administration.
The penalty for illegally operating a mahjong parlour listed in the new law remains unchanged from the penalty for the same criminal offence listed in the 1996 law.
However, according to the current Illicit Gambling Law, those caught playing mahjong at an illegal mahjong parlour face a fine of between 1,500 patacas and 20,000 patacas, a much heavier punishment than the fine of between 500 patacas and 10,000 patacas listed in the 1996 law.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Leng Kam Lon speaks during yesterday’s regular press conference. – Photo courtesy of TDM
