Macau numbers surge, as does China’s take of seized online gambling funds

Macau-Numbers-Seized-FundsSee if you can spot the connection between these two stories. On the one hand, we have our monthly ‘holy fuck, are they making a shitload of money in Macau’ article. To be precise, Macquarie Securities is predicting September’s revenues will be up 40% year on year. Just like it was in August. In the understatement of the year, analysts say the market shows “little sign of sequential slowdown.” Yep, operating a casino in Macau is like a license to print money. But did you know there’s an easier way?

Yes, that’s right. Provided you have the awesome apparatus of a police state behind you, you too can earn 1 billion yuan ($148M US) in eight short months, merely by arresting 7,360 online gamblers (as well as those who dared to provide services to them), then freezing their accounts. Yes, it’s a good life in the Ministry of Public Security, where our motto is “Hands up, you filthy gambling pig-dog!”

You know, if you thought long and hard enough, you might start to think there was some kinda wacky correlation between these two items… like, maybe Chinese authorities won’t tolerate anything that could conceivably upset the gravy train, you know, like by offering an alternative to having to physically visit Macau… Nah, too far fetched…