Macau's VIP rooms
Background: VIP room operators in Macau are responsible for the overall marketing of the room and providing hosts, rolling staff and cage personnel to conduct the rolling, buying, cashouts, etc, at the VIP room cage. These cage outlets, one in each VIP room, are manned by the room operators’ staff. All the chips in this cage have been purchased from the casino concession holder and the cash belongs to the room operator, so the concession holder has no responsibility for the assets. Where VIP room operators are not also the concession holders, they will typically receive a share of gaming revenue from the concession holder. VIP operators recruit junket agents who provide credit to gamblers.
It sounds quite innocent. However, the recent "Wikileak"story, revealed the reality of junkets involved with organized crime, loan sharking, and laundering Asian mob money with little or no government control in the casino.
I don't think American corporations, with billions invested in Macau, billions in profit, and billions waiting to pour into new projects, want to look too deeply into the issue, especially when permission to expand into Cotai, is dependent on approval from officials who may be "encouraged" to act for or against them, by the mob.
Quote: AyecarumbaThe "junket" operators provide convenient currency exchange and extend credit to players.
No, according to this site, the junket operators are different than the VIP room operators. Two different companies: the junket operators provide credit, the room operators deal the game. The room operators rent VIP rooms from Wynn, Venetian, Galaxy, etc. I can understand outsourcing loans; collecting debts in a nation with 1.3 billion people is probably a bit of a challenge.
What I'm questioning is why a casino would outsource the game-dealing itself.
Quote: AyecarumbaThe "junket" operators provide convenient currency exchange and extend credit to players.
It sounds quite innocent. However, the recent "Wikileak"story, revealed the reality of junkets involved with organized crime, loan sharking, and laundering Asian mob money with little or no government control in the casino.
I don't think American corporations, with billions invested in Macau, billions in profit, and billions waiting to pour into new projects, want to look too deeply into the issue, especially when permission to expand into Cotai, is dependent on approval from officials who may be "encouraged" to act for or against them, by the mob.
Those junket operators are notoriously shady. Everybody's heard of them; nobody actually knows how to contact them. I'd love to get in on one of those private Baccarat tournaments, but finding a junket seems to be restricted to word-of-mouth, and then in mainland China.
Quote: renoNo, according to this site, the junket operators are different than the VIP room operators. Two different companies: the junket operators provide credit, the room operators deal the game. The room operators rent VIP rooms from Wynn, Venetian, Galaxy, etc. I can understand outsourcing loans; collecting debts in a nation with 1.3 billion people is probably a bit of a challenge.
What I'm questioning is why a casino would outsource the game-dealing itself.
Actually according to the article you quoted:
Quote: reno's cited web article"• Junket agents are responsible for marketing and attracting clients to the casino or VIP rooms. They are typically individuals or small firms with extensive personal networks on the mainland. However, it is important to note that concession holders, VIP operators and other parties can, and often do, act as junkets as well, should they have the necessary network of clients. Participants in the Macau market often wear more than one hat."
I believe that the casinos put up with it because that is how the big players get to their joints. This arrangement is not optimal for the American casinos, who may not have their own lists of Chinese whales/syndicates yet, and are losing out by not taking cuts from smaller fish downstream like the establishments who run their own junkets as subsidiaries; but credit extension, dead chip programs and off the books currency transactions are part of the casino culture that Stanley Ho and his "associates" established in Macau, and 25% of 8 billion dollars is better than the nothing they would get if these big players went to another place.
Quote: heather
Those junket operators are notoriously shady. Everybody's heard of them; nobody actually knows how to contact them. I'd love to get in on one of those private Baccarat tournaments, but finding a junket seems to be restricted to word-of-mouth, and then in mainland China.
Members of this board may be able to make introductions for you. Of course if you are a big enough player, your Sands or Wynn host probably knows a name at their Macau property who can make a connection. There is always room for big money.
