Man Jumps from Casino Ship to Escape Loan Sharks
Gambling on loan-shark borrowed cash is all fun and games until such time you lose all of that money and are forced to remove to your skivvies and jump from your own floor that is third cabin aboard the casino ship that was the reason for your short-lived fun and subsequent woes, into the frigid waters of Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor below.
A Chinese national surnamed Lu found that out the way that is hard week, based on the Chinese language magazine Ming Pao. He allegedly borrowed HK$120,000 (approximately US$15,460) from loan sharks and embarked on a night of gambling aboard the casino ship, which skirts (or rather sails) around Hong Kong’s strict gambling laws by cruising out into international waters, a increasingly popular ploy the world over.
The ship was someplace nearby the Eastern Harbor Crossing Tunnel between Lei Yue Mun and Kwun Tong once the man made their escape effort (the loan sharks were presumably up to speed with him) after burning through the borrowed cash. He wrapped his papers and exactly what money that is little had left in plastic, stripped down, donned a life coat, and jumped from the screen of his cabin.
Rather than being free to swim to safety and make his wet way house however, he was found by another ship, which promptly brought him, soaking and sullen, to a police that is nearby, and then after that to the hospital for a check-up.
Whilst the guy was launched by authorities and has not been charged with any crime, law enforcement are certainly minimal of his concerns at the moment, as he still has a formidable gambling debt hanging over their mind, and likely some very angry people looking for him over it; people who probably weren’t particularly impressed by his decision to go with a late night swim.
Chinese Laundry Through the Slots: Money Laundering Alleged for Med Tech Firm
You are thought by there is a gambling problem? Think about $116,000 per on a slots habit month? That is how much Bi Xiaodong, wife of China Medical Technologies (CMT) CEO Wu Xiaodong, is rumored to have pumped into the roller that is high machines at Las Vegas’ upscale Wynn and Bellagio casinos between 2005 and 2010, playing with an impressive allowance from the man from whom she was then separated.
Washed Out
The truth is, there are people who throw money around at that crazy level in Vegas, so betting $5K a hand at slots per se probably wouldn’t normally have raised too many eyebrows. Just What did catch the attention of investigators, however, was the way that Mrs. Xiaodong received the sums that are enormous manage to manage to play at that level, because one source shows that she could have passed as much as $62 million through the Bellagio slots alone between 2008 and 2012.
The Missus claims she got her gambling money allowance from child care and for living expenses (begging the question of whether her kids had footwear or milk to take in); and maintains she separated from Wu in 2001 and had nothing to do with his business CMT since before its IPO in 2005 regarding the New York Stock Exchange.
Money Dilemmas
It was last summer whenever CMT had to close straight down, after creditors relocated in to collect missing interest payments from the company, forcing them into liquidation. Those bondholders included GLG Partners, a London firm that manages $26.4 billion in assets; GLG happens to be suing Wu Xiaodong in a suit that is civil Ca, alleging that Xiaodong stripped assets from CMT and then fed them surreptitiously to his wife, who in turn went them through the fancy Strip slot machines.
How It Works
Here’s the shell game: the casino allows players cash down from lengthy periods of slot play with a credit note for the remainder money deposited. The player can then take that note to a casino cashier, receive a search for the remaining amount, deposit said check in their very own bank account, and declare it as ‘gambling winnings’ on their taxation statements ( that are then terminated down by the same amount in ‘gambling losses,’ needless to say.)
Reports say that Bi Xiaodong declared close to $17 million on her comes back in wins between 2009 and 2011, with the ancillary loss to cancel the wins out. But the concerns about where the amount of money emanated from were what led detectives to look into the cash that is CMT possibility, and the probability of money laundering of CMT’s massive IPO funds.
Money Speaks
Now CMT’s liquidators are wanting to track some $670 million in missing cash which was raised throughout the business’s 2005 IPO. Also under investigation would be the company’s former finance director Takyung Tsang and their wife.
Could be a case of dirty laundry.
Macau Gaming Revenues Through the Roof for March
The economy may nevertheless be crawling back on its belly every-where else, but in Macau, money appears to be falling out of this sky, at least for its profitable casino industry.
A J.P. Morgan analyst quotes that March gross Macau video gaming revenues for the world’s most gambling that is successful ever will top away at $3.67 billion, a brand new monthly record even for Macau. Utilizing the final monthly tallies not really in yet, it’s predicted that final intakes could end up at a 25 % increase over the exact same amount of time in 2012, and it looks like that’s thanks to a proliferation of Asian whales, a sector that appears to own exploded by having a 15 to 20 per cent development rate this present year.
On the reverse side associated with the Coin
Talk about trickle-down economics: seems the majority of Macau’s casino industry workers are also having a year that is good far. In a 2013 survey known as the Macau Employee Confidence and Satisfaction Index, 1,026 employees responded about their different levels of job satisfaction, also their job that is overall confidence. Although somewhat down from final year’s Index, the movement downward ended up being subtle enough to help you to categorize their emotions as ‘stable’ in the mysterious globe of index rankers.
Casinos Employ Many
With very nearly a third for the survey participants working in Macau’s booming casino industry, it would appear that non-casino employees have ever-so-slightly higher job satisfaction than their casino worker counterparts, with croupiers posting the satisfaction that is lowest away from the entire gaming employee group. In regards to income, however, croupiers rake in the greatest satisfaction of any of workers, gaming and non-gaming alike. Could 1984 chapter summary all those extremely wealthy Asian whales be both impossibly demanding and also great tippers whenever they winnings? Sure feels like it.
The Approaching Year
Now it just remains to be seen in the event that rest of 2013 is going to be since lucrative as March appears enjoy it will be whenever all the numbers are completely tallied.
We understand one group specially who is wishing for continued wide range to come strike the tables in Macau: the croupiers.
Record-Breaking Poker Jackpot Relaunched
BetVictor Poker recently revamped and relaunched its massive Bad Beat Poker Jackpot with a prize that is record-breaking of €921,603 (those Euros translate to $1,193,291).
‘we are delighted in order to launch the all-new Bad Beat Jackpot by having an industry record-breaking award pool of over €920,000,’ announced Andy Horne, head of poker at BetVictor.
More straightforward to Win, More Payouts
Suspended earlier this thirty days to ensure that BetVictor could create a few changes that are positive the structure for its players, the jackpot can now be won more effortlessly, with more benefiting from the payout too.
‘Will it reach €1 million? Who understands.? The modifications suggest it will often be won more and by more and more people now,’ explained Horne. ‘The current jackpot will dsicover over €90,000 paid out to opted-in players playing at similar stakes as the winner, so even if you’re maybe not at the table where it strikes, you are able to share into the good fortune, and that is no bad beat.’
Opt In for Players
Players looking to participate in the Bad Beat Jackpot now need to use the ‘opt-in’ option that you can get on all money tables above €0.10/€0.20, Each hand they play a small price to pay for the chance to win a chunk of a big prize at which point they will contribute €0.02 to the increasing jackpot.
In an effort to increase the chances of winning, the new qualifying hand has been paid down from four-of-a-kind eights, to four-of-a-kind deuces.
When the lucky winner manages to sweep the jackpot up, ten percent associated with the reward pool is distributed to players who have opted in at the stake level at which the jackpot is hit.
It’s All Yours
In addition, BetVictor, which ended up being created in 1946 and has become one of many earth’s leading bookmaking that is independent gaming groups, has established that there are going to be no administration fees involved, so the complete jackpot will likely be distributed towards the players involved.
With increased opportunities of winning, and a record-breaking prize pool of almost one million euros just waiting to burst, BetVictor is certainly going to own its flooding gates battered down by those looking to play on low-stakes tables with the chance of a decent payout.