Macau’s legislature passed a bill Wednesday to tighten controls on illegal gambling in the special administrative region. The new ‘Law to Combat Illegal Gambling Crimes’ prohibits activities such as unlicensed money exchanges and loansharking in casinos and the promotion of unauthorized online gambling.
But to the consternation of some, it also bans Mark Six, a popular lottery operated in Macau’s neighbor Hong Kong by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, which has been played in Macau since its establishment in 1976.
Mark Six invites players to select six numbers from a grid displaying 1 to 49. Tickets are sporadically found in Macau, particularly by family-run or small to medium-sized businesses, according to Macau Business. But now, any operations or sales in Macau related to Mark Six could result in a prison sentence of two years.
Couple Arrested
Mark Six has never been authorized by Macau’s gaming regulator, the DICJ, but neither have authorities clamped down on businesses that sell the tickets.
That’s no longer the case. A day after the new bill’s approval, the SAR’s Public Security Police Force announced the arrest of a married couple in their fifties who had been selling the now-illicit tickets from their small grocery store in northern Macau.
The pair allegedly made MOP1,960 (US$245) in profits from the sale of Mark Six lottery tickets since February. That’s according to police who added that the female suspect was caught hawking tickets to passersby on the street
Macau has several different lotteries of its own which are operated by the DICJ. These include a traditional Chinese lottery called Pacapio, an instant lottery, and a sports lottery. Lottery revenues account for less than 1% of the gambling hub’s total gaming haul.
‘Minimal Socia Impact’
Prior to the bill’s passage, lawmaker Ron Lam had appealed to his fellow legislators to exclude long-running activities like Mark Six from prohibition.
“Some small shops in Macau reselling Mark Six lottery tickets from nearby areas are not engaged in organized illegal operations,” Lam argued, as translated by Macau Business.
“They merely profit from small price differences,” Lam added. “This practice has existed in the city for years and is quite common among the public. There has been minimal social impact, suggesting that criminal penalties should not be easily imposed.”
Secretary for Administration and Justice Cheong Weng Chon refuted Lam’s assertion that the sale of Mark Six tickets had previously gone unpunished, claiming that enforcement and judicial efforts had “long been underway” to halt the practice, according to Macau Business.
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