Macau Gaming Crime Cases Jump 63% in 2025

Macau recorded a steep rise in gaming-related crime during 2025, with authorities linking much of the increase to a new law targeting illegal money exchange activities tied to casinos.

Official figures released by the Office of the Secretary for Security showed 2,373 gaming-related cases last year. That represented a 63% increase from the 1,456 cases reported in 2024.

Authorities said the surge largely followed the criminalization of unlicensed currency exchange for gambling purposes under the Law to Combat Crimes of Illegal Gambling, which took effect on October 29, 2024. Officials described the legislation as an important legal tool in efforts to tackle casino-linked crime.

The report also noted that adjustments to statistical classifications for gaming-related offenses contributed to the higher annual total.

Illegal Money Exchange Cases Surge

As reported by Inside Asian Gaming, the largest jump came from cases involving unlawful exchange for gaming purposes, often described locally as money exchange gangs.

Police recorded 471 such cases in 2025, compared with 89 in the previous year. That amounted to a rise of 429%.

These operations have long drawn attention in Macau, where visitors seeking gaming funds sometimes turned to informal or unauthorized exchangers outside regulated financial channels.

The new law appears to have given enforcement agencies broader authority to pursue those activities. Officials indicated the change played a major role in the annual crime figures.

Fraud also climbed sharply. Gaming-related fraud cases doubled from 333 in 2024 to 667 in 2025, making fraud one of the most common categories tied to the sector.

Authorities said fraud and illegal exchange activity are often connected, suggesting that unauthorized currency operations continue to create opportunities for scams and financial deception around gaming venues.

Several violent or confrontational offense categories also moved higher during the year.

Gaming-related robbery cases rose from four incidents in 2024 to 14 in 2025, an increase of 250%.

Cases involving assault to physical integrity and intimidation also increased, with combined growth of 59.6%, according to the released figures.

While those totals remain smaller than fraud and exchange-related cases, the rise indicates continued pressure on public order around gambling activity and related disputes.

Even with those increases, the broader citywide criminal picture was more mixed. Macau police opened 13,458 criminal investigations across all categories in 2025, down 5.9% year-on-year.

Officials said serious violent crime, fraud and cybercrime across the city showed a downward trend overall, which they attributed to enforcement work and stronger public awareness of crime prevention.

Traditional Casino Crime Categories Decline

Despite the headline increase in gaming-related offenses, several historically prominent crime categories tied to casinos fell in 2025.

Illegal lending for gambling, commonly associated with loansharking, declined from 252 cases to 194. That was a reduction of about 23%.

False imprisonment or deprivation of freedom of movement — often linked in past years to debt collection or coercion cases — dropped by 40.4%, with 28 cases recorded.

Authorities also reported that criminal syndicate activity and illegal gambling operations such as under-the-table betting both fell by more than 50%.

Those declines suggest that targeted police action against organized groups and established gambling-related crime networks had some measurable impact during the year.

Officials stated that the amount of serious gambling-related crime and organized crime remained low in 2025.