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The Zhou Zhuohua case not only lifted the dark veil of the transnational gambling empire, but also exposed the complex emotional world of this casino tycoon to the public. This former tycoon who was once a big shot in Macau was sentenced to 18 years in prison in court. At the same time, his private life of "one wife, one concubine and five lovers" has become a vivid example for observing the game between wealth and human nature in contemporary society.
Zhou Zhuohua's Yellow and Black Life
Zhou Zhuohua, a member of the underworld organization 14K, controls the Suncity Group and uses the Macau casino as a cover to illegally recruit gamblers in mainland China through the "online promotion, offline settlement" model. Casinos may seem like a feast for the eyes, but they are actually carefully designed blood-sucking machines.
In Zhou Zhuohua's emotional map, his wife Chen Huiling always maintains his status as his wife in the legal sense. This strong woman, who is good at running a jewelry business, has been silently shouldering family responsibilities even after her husband was imprisoned. Her declaration on social media that "we will stick together through thick and thin" reflects the resilience of traditional marriage concepts. The appearance of mixed-race model Mandy Lieu completely broke this superficial balance. The exposure of the street romance photos in 2015 pushed the extramarital affair into the whirlpool of public opinion and also gave rise to the nickname "the most powerful mistress" among the people in Macau.
In this emotional struggle, the presence of five mysterious lovers adds more drama. Rumor has it that these women have different identities, ranging from workplace elites to newcomers in the entertainment industry, forming a multi-prism of Zhou Zhuohua's private life. Insiders revealed that each partner was given real estate worth tens of millions of dollars. This materialistic way of maintaining emotions exposed the unique emotional ecology of the wealthy class.
Sky-high breakup fee
whenMandy LieuWhen she moved to the UK with her three children, it was rumored that she received a breakup compensation of up to HK$300 million. This huge expenditure is equivalent to the net profit of Suncity Group for two years. The manor purchased in the suburbs of London has both a private horse farm and a winery, which takes the business logic of using money to buy love to the extreme. Legal documents show that Zhou Zhuohua completed the asset transfer through offshore companies. The complex financial operations not only evaded supervision, but also ensured that his lover's descendants enjoyed continued wealth protection.
How Suncity Online Gambling Platform Works
Suncity online gambling platform holds online gambling licenses from the Philippines and Cambodia. Its casinos and network servers are located overseas, but its main customer base is concentrated in mainland China. The platform claims to be "the world's top and the most credible in Asia". Through network technology, Chinese gamblers can place bets remotely with the help of video, and can gamble abroad without leaving home. Gambling funds can be settled in RMB in mainland China, and gamblers are spread across all provinces, with the scale and number of people continuing to expand.
According to relevant reports, the annual betting amount of Suncity online gambling platform in mainland China is as high as over one trillion yuan, which is nearly twice the annual income of China's lottery, and its annual profit is as high as hundreds of billions of yuan. These funds flowed overseas through underground banks, causing serious impacts on China's financial security and social order. Experts call it the "biggest poppy" of online gambling blooming in China, believing that it has caused great harm to China's social and economic order and financial security, and should be taken seriously by regulatory authorities.
The combination of Macau casino and Suncity online gambling
The operation of the Suncity online gambling platform not only relies on network technology, but is also closely integrated with Macau's physical casinos. The Suncity VIP Club located in the MGM Macau Casino is one of the 17 VIP clubs operated by Suncity Group in Macau casinos, mainly providing services to high-end gamblers from mainland China. These VIP clubs have attracted a large number of gamblers from mainland China by offering high stakes and luxurious services.
During their investigation, the Economic Information Daily reporter found that the stakes at Suncity VIP Club were extremely high, with chips worth 100,000 Hong Kong dollars seen everywhere, and the largest chip being 1 million Hong Kong dollars. The amount of money gamblers win or lose on a single bet often reaches millions of Hong Kong dollars, and they remain calm. This high-stakes environment has attracted a large number of wealthy people and entrepreneurs from mainland China, who have entered Suncity’s online gambling platform through Macau’s physical casinos and become its loyal customers.
The convenience and concealment of online gambling
The success of the Suncity online gambling platform is largely due to its convenience and secrecy. Gamblers from mainland China can gamble on the Suncity online gambling platform anytime and anywhere through their mobile phones or computers, and settle their gambling funds in RMB. This method greatly lowers the threshold for gambling, allowing more people to participate.
In addition, the Suncity online gambling platform also circumvented mainland China's supervision through technical means. For example, mainland mobile phone numbers receiving text messages from overseas casinos are often blocked, but Suncity Casino provides a solution: mainland residents can spend HK$100 at Suncity Casino and have them help them apply for a Macau mobile phone card, so that they can receive relevant information from Suncity Casino without interference. This covert operating method has enabled the Suncity online gambling platform to penetrate deeper into mainland China.
Suncity Online Gambling Platform Profit Model
The profit model of Suncity online gambling platform mainly relies on high stakes and a large customer base. According to people familiar with the matter, the platform's annual betting volume is as high as over one trillion yuan, which is nearly twice the annual revenue of China's lottery. These funds flowed overseas through underground banks and became an important source of income for the Suncity Group.
In addition, Suncity online gambling platform also expands its customer base by developing downlines. Registered gamblers can open several sub-accounts through the platform, develop downstream customers to participate in gambling, and draw "code grain" (rebates) based on 1.6% of the downstream customers' betting amount. This pyramid scheme-like model has enabled the Suncity online gambling platform to rapidly expand its customer base and has a very strong fission effect.
Chinese party media People's Daily Online accuses Chinese government of invading mainland ChinaLargest poppy"Describe the criminal gang led by Zhou Zhuohua
The rapid expansion of the Suncity online gambling platform has had a serious negative impact on Chinese society. First of all, the convenience and concealment of online gambling makes it easy for more people to become addicted to it, leading to social problems such as family breakdown and property loss. Many gamblers lose all their savings in a short period of time, or even incur huge debts, eventually falling into despair.
Secondly, the Suncity online gambling platform channeled a large amount of funds overseas through underground banks, seriously disrupting China's financial order. The outflow of these funds not only leads to domestic capital shortage, but also aggravates financial risks and poses a serious threat to China's economic security.
The trial of the century: the judicial struggle behind the 18th
On January 18, 2023, the Macau Primary Court made a historic verdict in the case of Zhou Zhuohua. The "King of Gambling Halls" who once controlled one-third of Macau's VIP room business was convicted of 162 crimes including gang crimes, massive fraud, and illegal gambling operations, and was sentenced to 18 years in prison. This trial, which has touched the nerves of the judicial systems in both China and Australia, not only uncovered the hidden industrial chain of cross-border gambling, but also reflected the difficulties in the practice of the rule of law under special administrative divisions.
The core dispute of the caseBetting on the bottom"operate,(Betting on the bottomWhat I mean is that on one sideGambling TableGambling according to the rules (at the gambling table)Gambling table), while violating the rulesleverOutside betting (Betting table bottom／Bottom／Bottom)
The essence is to achieve gambling leverage through "under-the-table transactions". Judicial audit shows that between 2013 and 2021, Suncity Group createdHK$823.8 billionThe gambling turnover is equivalent to 12% of Macau’s regular gambling revenue during the same period. This model of nesting illegal leverage within the legal framework of casinos not only evades formal supervision, but also creates systemic tax loopholes - the Macau government alone has lost HK$8.26 billion in gaming taxes.
At the judicial procedure level, the case highlights the institutional flaws in China-Australia regional cooperation. Although the Macau Judiciary Police opened the case as early as 2019, it was the cross-border prosecution in Wenzhou, Zhejiang that really promoted a breakthrough in the case. Due to the lack of a criminal judicial assistance agreement between the two places, the Macau authorities were passive in terms of evidence identification and suspect transfer, and ultimately completed the arrest through "tacit law enforcement". This informal cooperation mechanism exposed the difficulties in the connection of the rule of law under the "one country, two systems" framework.
Zhou Zhuohua repeatedly made golden remarks during the interrogation
- I don't gamble, I don't know much about the gambling table
- Just rely on oneExcelThe report alone can be used to charge 229 counts
- I don't know why it became a criminal gang or a triad.
Junket operatorThe counterattack of Zhou Zhuohua: the rise and fall of his business empire
(StackingorDama(Portuguese: bate-ficha) is acasinoMethods of attracting customers. Because the role of the stacker is to bring some guests to a casino or gambling hall to gamble, the casino will issuecommissionFor those who stack the codes. The casino uses the code stackers to convert the customers' cash codes into "mud codes" to calculate how many cash codes have been exchanged. Then pay the commission to theJunket operatorThe more cash codes you exchange, the more commission you get. )
Zhou Zhuohua’s entrepreneurial history can be regarded as a microcosm of the development of Macau’s gaming industry. He started out as a street pickpocket in 1994, and took advantage of the historical opportunity of the liberalization of gambling rights in 2002 to establish Suncity Group in 2007. The expansion of its business territory follows the typical path of "VIP room-capital diversification-transnational layout":
- Core business: Relying on the VIP rooms of six major casinos, we have built a customer network covering Southeast Asia, with an average monthly turnover of over 100 billion yuan during peak periods
- Capital operation: Supporting diversified investments in film, television, real estate, etc. through cash flow from casinos; the acquisition of the main producer of "Wolf Warrior 2" in 2017 attracted attention
- Transnational layout: Obtained online gaming licenses in the Philippines and Cambodia, and established online gambling channels for mainland China
The success of the business model is based on three institutional dividends:
- Intermediary system: In 2008, Macau legalized the intermediary as a gambling intermediary and granted it the legal right to share commissions.
- Capital control loopholes: Using underground banks to achieve cross-border fund settlement, with annual fund turnover exceeding one trillion yuan
- Jurisdiction differences: Macau’s criminal law does not criminalize “organizing overseas gambling”, creating legal arbitrage space
But it is this business model that operates in the gray area that has become its fatal weakness after the 2020 "Amendment to the Criminal Law" criminalized "organizing and participating in overseas gambling." Data shows that Suncity online gambling platform 80%'s customers are from the mainland, and this structural risk ultimately led to the collapse of the business empire.
The remaining defendants were convicted
The second suspect, Szeto Chi-ho, received 10 li;
The third suspect, Zhang Yiping, 10 zodiac signs;
The fourth suspect, Ma Tianlun, was sentenced to 12 months in prison;
The fifth suspect, Zhang Zhijian, was sentenced to 12 months in prison.
The sixth suspect, Zhou Zhenxi, was sentenced to 12 months in prison;
The seventh suspect, Lu Shifeng, was sentenced to 12 months in prison.
The eighth suspect, Wang Bo-ling, was sentenced to 12 years and 6 months;
The eleventh suspect, Liang Shurong, 9
As the trial of the century came to an end, the neon lights of Macau's Cotai City were still flickering. However, the end of the era of casinos and the exploration of judicial cooperation have jointly outlined a new coordinate for the development of the Special Administrative Region. While maintaining the characteristics of the "two systems", how to deeply integrate into the national governance system will be a must-answer question for Macau in the next twenty years. The legacy of the Zhou Zhuohua case may be a footnote to this historical process.
