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澳门是中国的一个前葡萄牙贸易城市，由于赌博在中国大陆是非法的，所以长期以来一直是该国高消费人群的目的地。
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大流行之前，该市40多家赌场的收入几乎是拉斯维加斯的六倍。
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最近，48岁的赌博发起人阿尔文-周（Alvin Chau）在被认定犯有非法赌博、欺诈和有组织犯罪罪后被监禁，这暴露了一个横跨大陆的庞大帝国。
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周作为旅行团公司Suncity的负责人而崭露头角，该公司在澳门几乎所有的赌场内都有几十个房间，为高额赌客提供服务。当中国的高额赌徒来澳门赌博时，旅行团经营者向他们提供信贷。
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根据法院的判决，周还经营着一个非法的 "桌下 "赌博业务，在2013年3月至2021年3月期间的营业额为8210亿港元（1050亿美元），大约相当于美国三大赌场在同一时期的收入。
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赌场高管将太阳城描述为一个高度复杂的金融服务机构，拥有数千名员工和一项在线业务，中国公民每年的赌博金额超过10万人民币（1474亿美元）。
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周的影响力远远超出了中国，一些澳大利亚的赌场在允许太阳城在其场所为VIP高额赌客经营赌博室后，被吊销了执照。
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周的被捕和判刑将为国际赌场公司的利润更加有限铺平道路，因为要取代精英高额赌客的收入损失将是一个极其困难的挑战。
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Macau, a former Portuguese trading town in China, has long been a destination for the country’s high rollers due to gambling being illegal in mainland China.
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Pre-pandemic, the more than 40 casinos in the city generated nearly six times the revenue of Las Vegas.
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The recent jailing of Alvin Chau, a 48-year-old gambling promoter, after he was found guilty of illegal gambling, fraud and organized crime, has exposed a sprawling empire that spanned the continent.
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Chau rose to prominence as the head of junket company Suncity, which had dozens of rooms catering to high rollers inside nearly all of Macau’s casinos. Junket operators extend credit to high-rolling Chinese gamblers when they come to Macau to gamble.
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According to the court judgment, Chau also ran an illegal “under the table” gambling operation with a turnover of HK$821bn (US$105bn) between March 2013 to March 2021, about equivalent to the revenues of the three biggest US casinos in the city over the same period.
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Casino executives describe Suncity as a highly sophisticated financial services institution with thousands of employees and an online business where Chinese citizens gambled more than RMB1tn ($147.4bn) annually.
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Chau’s reach extended far beyond China and some Australian casinos have had licenses suspended after allowing Suncity to run gambling rooms for VIP high rollers on their premises.
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Chau’s arrest and sentencing is set to pave the way for more limited profits for international casino companies, as it would be an extremely difficult challenge to replace the loss of earnings from elite high rollers.
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