Macau High Roller Heist results in $258 Million Theft

Every piece of news that comes out of Macau seems to be bad lately. And the latest on a $258 million casino heist shows that things don’t seem to be getting any better.

Hong Kong-based investment bank Daiwa Capital Markets reports that a junket operator working inside of Wynn Macau had $258m stolen from them. It’s believed that former employees from Dore Holdings, the junket in question, were the ones who made off with the fortune.

As reported by Bloomberg, Wynn didn’t lose any money on the deal because junkets merely act as middlemen that bring high rollers to Macau. But those investing in Dore Holdings have taken a big hit in the aftermath of the massive heist.

Despite the fact that Wynn Macau didn’t lose any money in the theft, their stock prices did fall around 10% in the days following this news.

Wynn isn’t the only one hurting because the junket industry as a whole is likely to see an even larger decline. Investors could cut their spending on these companies, meaning junkets won’t have as much to spend on recruiting high rollers.

This would truly be a blow for the world’s largest gambling destination because junkets have played a critical role in Macau’s development. They develop relationships with high rollers, handle travel arrangements and lend players money – the most-critical part in this because bad-debt collections and money transfers are illegal in Macau.

“That kind of relationship is always vulnerable to attack,” explains Derk Boss, a Las Vegas-based casino security consultant. He says the junket operators “are very powerful and work very much independently.”

Dore Holdings is one of the junket pioneers, becoming the first to work with Wynn Macau. They host two VIP rooms with 25 tables in the casino and have benefited greatly from the relationship. But now the company is dealing with a huge loss following the theft by its former employees.

According to Dore’s website, a former manager made unauthorized transactions that “severely impacted the company’s interest and reputation. Due to the seriousness of this event, which involved fraud, the group has filed a police report.”

Despite seeing $258m slip through their hands, Dore is rumored to be operating the same as always while they wait to see if the police can apprehend their former employee.