Authorities in Pennsylvania are on the hunt for a suspected baccarat cheater after an attempted scam at the Mohegan Pennsylvania casino in Wilkes-Barre. The individual in question, Jianchu Liu, a 47-year-old Chinese national, is believed to be part of a professional cheating ring known to have targeted various casinos across the United States.

Liu’s alleged modus operandi involved attempting to surreptitiously record the sequence of cards in the baccarat deck using a camera app on his cellphone. However, his actions did not go unnoticed, as the casino’s surveillance cameras caught him in the act, reported The Citizen’s Voice.

According to state police reports, Liu was identified through his casino rewards card. Investigators suspect that he is affiliated with a group of cheats known for employing sophisticated techniques to gain an advantage at the baccarat table. This group has previously operated at casinos such as the Golden Nugget and the Imperial Palace in Biloxi, Mississippi.

The cheating method employed by Liu and his associates typically involves the use of a cut card to momentarily expose the order of the cards in the deck. This information is then relayed to the cheater, allowing them to make strategic bets with an unfair advantage.

Baccarat Cheater Evades Arrest, Authorities Seek Public Assistance

During the incidents at Mohegan Pennsylvania, Liu’s actions aroused suspicion among casino security personnel. On one occasion, he was observed manipulating the dealer’s hands in an attempt to influence how the cards were handled, leading to a confrontation between Liu and the dealer.

Following a thorough investigation, state police obtained a warrant for Liu’s arrest on two misdemeanor charges related to fraud and trickery. Despite the warrant, Liu has not yet been apprehended or arraigned.

Baccarat is a popular card game where players aim to bet on the hand with the highest value, which is nine. However, Liu’s alleged cheating attempts disrupted the fair play of the game, prompting authorities to take swift action.

As the investigation continues, authorities are urging anyone with information regarding Jianchu Liu’s whereabouts to come forward. This is not the first time baccarat has been the subject of cheating. In January, a Mohegan Sun baccarat dealer, Yu Wen Fu, was accused of rigging games by arranging cards in a specific order, resulting in significant losses for the casino. Despite facing charges of larceny, Fu maintained his innocence, claiming accidental card exposure during shuffling.

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Against all reason, a Chinese man put all of his eggs in the same basket, buying over 50,000 lottery tickets and entering the same numbers on all of them. Fortunately for him, his combination turned out to be a winning one, netting him millions of dollars.

The player, who preferred to remain anonymous, is a resident of Nanchang. The man described himself as a regular lottery player who would often invest thousands of Yuan in lottery tickets. Believed to have spent as much as a million throughout his five years of playing, the man has finally struck gold.

According to reports, the player visited many shops across Nanchang, buying out all available Happy 8 tickets and putting the same numbers on all of them. In total, the man bought over 50,000 tickets, entering the following combination on each single one: 40, 41, 42, 44, 63, 64 and 65.

When this combination secured a prize of CNY 4,475 (roughly $628), all of the tickets became winners. As a result, he scooped a grand total of around $30 million.

The man claimed his prize a few days later, which is when he disclosed that he was a regular lottery player who would often buy tickets in bulk.

The news quickly became viral on Chinese social media. While some were happy about the man, many thought that something must be going on. The confidence with which the man spent thousands of Yuan on lottery tickets caused many to be suspicious of his win.

Many people were skeptical and questioned the legitimacy of the win, thinking that it might have been a part of some fix. Some suggested that the player might have had insider information that helped him enter the correct combination and take hundreds of millions of Yuan home.

Certain people went as far as suggesting that the situation might have been set up by the Chinese government as a way to channel people toward the lottery. However, the Chinese Welfare Lottery did not report the case officially, which may be proof that the win was genuine.

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Australia’s casino gaming market has long depended on rich Chinese tourists for some extra income. With gambling prohibited in most of China, Australia has long been a preferred destination for gambling tourism.

However, China’s recent hurdles with COVID forced this revenue stream to shut down for a while. While the zero-COVID policy is no more and direct flights between the two countries have been resumed, it will likely take a while before Australia’s casino operators can again count on Chinese tourists.

According to business analytics specialist S&P Global, the influx of Chinese customers is unlikely to return to pre-pandemic levels earlier than 12-18 months from now. According to the firm, this slow recovery is due to China’s stagnating economy and the Chinese people’s trend to prefer shorter journeys.

S&P analysts Aras Poon, Shawn Park and Tristan Ong said expect that Chinese customers will eventually start to return, although this is likely to take over a year.

The experts also warned that recovery will not be homogeneous across businesses in the Asia-Pacific region, with most companies set to return to pre-pandemic levels in a year or two.

Australian Companies Breached Laws to Capitalize on Chinese Tourists

Australia’s gambling market used to depend on rich Chinese customers for some extra income. However, local operators eventually cut their ties to Chinese junked operators.

Eventually, local regulators probed into the businesses of companies, such as Star Entertainment and Crown Resorts, which formerly partnered with such companies. The two Australian casino & hospitality giants were found guilty of multiple breaches of their states’ gambling regulations, prompting a long period of investigations.

One of the two companies even sported an unregulated gambling cage where VIP customers, including affluent Chinese nationals, could gamble. Both companies also allowed Chinese customers to gamble using UnionPay debit cards, which is a stark violation of China’s laws. This fraud was made possible by Star and Crown’s rigging of paper trails.

Some have suggested that the shutdown of such illegal activities may also be responsible for the slowdown of tourism from China.

At the same time, China seeks to prevent its citizens from gambling as a whole, which may mean bad news for Australian companies holding out for an influx of Chinese tourists.

In any case, as S&P analysts have suggested, Australian operators will have to secure additional revenue streams if they are to face the increasing regulatory headwinds in the country.

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South Korea’s tourism and casino industries anticipate a significant boost with the return of Chinese group tours, suggests a recent report by NH Investment & Securities Co Ltd.

This move follows China’s August announcement about easing travel restrictions for its citizens and allowing group travel to more destinations, including Japan and South Korea, as part of the post-Covid-19 measures.

According to sources, the South Korean government is further incentivising group tourism by waiving processing fees, which were “currently set at KRW18,000 [about US$13.60] for visitors arriving in groups” until the end of this year.

NH Investment’s analyst Hazell Lee commented on this resurgence, declaring it likely to have a positive impact on South Korea’s casinos.

MORE: CHINESE ONLINE CASINOS

“The expansion of Chinese inbound traffic following the resumption of group tours to [South] Korea should eventually lead to a sharp recovery in the number of casino visitors, especially mass visitors,” she said.

The relationship between China and South Korea’s tourism sectors has been strained in recent years. It began with tensions over Seoul’s deployment of a U.S. missile defence system in 2017. While China didn’t publicly admit to restricting group tours to South Korea, the situation was further exacerbated in 2020 when China implemented a broad ban on outbound group tours due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, Ms. Lee provided a word of caution, noting that while mass-market tourism is expected to see a resurgence, VIP gaming segments might still lag.

Recent policy shifts in China underscore a negative sentiment towards high stakes casino players. In the past few years, Chinese authorities have cracked down on citizens traveling abroad for casino play or participating in online betting activities, which they term as “cross-border gambling”. China further solidified this stance by amending its criminal code in March 2021, making it illegal for anyone to facilitate such activities.

In conclusion, Ms. Lee particularly highlighted the potential benefits for South Korea’s foreigner-only casino operator, Paradise Co Ltd. She believes that both the gaming and non-gaming sectors of the company stand to “benefit significantly” from the revival of Chinese group tours. Specifically, she emphasized that the amenities and accessibility of Paradise City, the company’s casino resort complex in Incheon, should be particularly appealing to group visitors and casino enthusiasts.

As per the Korea Casino Association, South Korea boasts 17 casinos, 16 of which are exclusively open to foreign visitors.

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The government in China has been cracking down on gambling for several years now. In light of the country’s strict laws on gambling activities, law enforcement and other agencies constantly monitor different activities and investigate cases of illegal gambling or other gambling-related crimes.

Amid the crackdown on gambling, online content platforms have reportedly taken action by removing live streaming features like lucky draws, actions that slashed their revenues for the latest quarter. As reported by Reuters, Tencent Music, as well as NetEase’s Cloud Music, have excluded live streaming features from its offering.

Analysts have previously voiced their concerns that such live-streaming features may be used for illegal gambling. However, none of the companies have officially addressed such concerns but rather released other reasons for the halt of certain live-streaming features.

For example, Tencent confirmed that the recent change seeks to make it more “music-centric.” Yet, upon releasing its second quarter of 2023 results earlier this month, the company confirmed that Tencent Music has seen a decline of 24% year-over-year in its social entertainment revenues, where the live streaming segment is positioned.

Similarly, Tencent’s game broadcasting platform that resembles Twitch, Huya, also posted a decrease in its social entertainment revenues for Q2 2023 that dipped by 16% year-over-year. Addressing the changes to its live streaming features, Huya said it sought to elevate the experiences for its customers and create a “healthier” atmosphere.

On the other hand, NetEase’s Cloud Music, a popular music streaming service, reportedly also excluded some live streaming features. The change was described as an improvement of its “internal controls mechanism” in combination with “stricter monitoring over irregular user activities.” Unsurprisingly, Cloud Music’s social entertainment revenue in Q2 this year also fell by 24% when compared to the corresponding period in 2022.

The Crackdown on Gambling Continues

While the aforementioned companies haven’t officially linked China’s ongoing crackdown to the halt of some streaming services, analysts predict further impact. 86Research’s analyst, Charlie Chai, predicted that the ongoing efforts against gambling may eliminate between 20% to 70% of the revenue from live streaming. According to him, this depends on the popularity of each of the streaming platforms.

“We expect the anti-gambling crackdown… to eliminate 20% to 70% of live streaming revenue, depending on each platform’s exposure.“

Charlie Chai, analyst for 86Research

Earlier this summer, the Payment and Clearing Association in China confirmed that some $277 million in payments for illegal gambling platforms were blocked for last year alone. The report reaffirms the dedication of the country to fight against such activities at all costs and reduce the money leaking into illegal gambling.

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