Man Jumps from Casino Ship to Escape Loan Sharks
Gambling on loan-shark borrowed money is all fun and games and soon you lose each 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 nationwide surnamed Lu found that out the difficult way last week, based on the china newsprint Ming Pao. He presumably borrowed HK$120,000 (approximately US$15,460) from loan sharks and embarked for a evening of gambling aboard the casino ship, which skirts (or rather sails) around Hong Kong’s strict gambling laws by sailing out into international waters, a ploy that is increasingly popular world over.
The ship was somewhere close to the Eastern Harbor Crossing Tunnel between Lei Yue Mun and Kwun Tong once the man made his escape attempt (the loan sharks were presumably on board with him) after burning through the lent cash. He wrapped his documents and exactly what little cash he had left in plastic, stripped down, donned a life jacket, and jumped from the screen of his cabin.
Rather than being free to swim to safety and make their wet way house however, he was acquired by another ship, which promptly brought him, soaking and sullen, to a nearby police section, and then after that to a medical facility for a check-up.
While the guy premiered by police and has not been charged with any crime, the police are undoubtedly minimal of his worries at the moment, over it; people who probably weren’t particularly impressed by his decision to go for a late night swim as he still has a formidable gambling debt hanging over his head, and likely some very angry people looking for him.
Chinese Laundry Through the Slots: Money Laundering Alleged for Med Tech Firm
You think there is a gambling problem? How about $116,000 per month on a slots practice? That is just how much Bi Xiaodong, wife of China Medical Technologies (CMT) CEO Wu Xiaodong, is rumored to have pumped into the high roller slot 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
Surprisingly, you will find people who throw money around at that crazy level in Vegas, so betting $5K a hand at slots per se probably would not have raised too numerous eyebrows. Just What did catch the interest of investigators, however, was the way that Mrs. Xiaodong received the sums that are enormous be able to afford to play at that level, because one source shows that she may have passed since 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 as well as for living expenses (begging the relevant question of whether her kids had footwear or milk to drink); and maintains she separated from Wu in 2001 and had absolutely nothing to do with his business CMT since before its IPO in 2005 in the New York Stock market.
Cash Problems
It was summer that is last CMT had to shut straight down, after creditors relocated in to gather missing interest re payments from the company, forcing them into liquidation. Those bondholders included GLG Partners, a London firm that manages $26.4 billion in assets; GLG has become 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 ran them through the fancy Strip slot machines.
How It Works
Here’s the shell game: the casino lets players cash away from lengthy periods of slot play with a credit note for all of those other money deposited. The gamer can then take that note to a casino cashier, get a check for the remaining amount, deposit said sign in their very own bank account, and declare it as ‘gambling winnings’ on their taxation statements ( that are then cancelled down by the same quantity in ‘gambling losses,’ of course.)
Reports say that Bi Xiaodong declared close to $17 million on her comes back in victories between 2009 and 2011, with the loss that is ancillary cancel the wins out. But the questions about where the money emanated from were what led investigators to look into the cash that is CMT possibility, and the chance for money laundering of CMT’s massive IPO funds.
Money Speaks
Now CMT’s liquidators are wanting to monitor some $670 million in missing money that has been raised during the company’s 2005 IPO. Also under investigation are the company’s former finance director Takyung Tsang and his 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 seems to be receding regarding the sky, at the least for its profitable casino industry.
A J.P. Morgan analyst estimates that March gross Macau video gaming revenues for the world’s most successful gambling destination ever will top away at $3.67 billion, a new monthly record even for Macau. A sector that appears to have exploded with a 15 to 20 percent growth rate this year with the final monthly tallies not even in yet, it’s predicted that final intakes could end up at a 25 percent increase over the same time in 2012, and it looks like that’s thanks to a proliferation of Asian whales.
On the reverse side associated with the Coin
Talk about trickle-down economics: seems nearly all of Macau’s casino industry workers are also having a year that is good far. In a 2013 study known as the Macau Employee self-esteem and Satisfaction Index, 1,026 employees responded about their different levels of job satisfaction, in addition to their job that is overall self- confidence. Although slightly down from final year’s Index, the movement downward ended up being slight enough to help you to categorize their feelings as ‘stable’ in the mysterious world of index rankers.
Casinos Employ Many
With almost a third of this survey respondents working in Macau’s booming casino industry, it appears that non-casino employees have ever-so-slightly higher job satisfaction than their casino worker counterparts, with croupiers posting the satisfaction that is lowest out of the entire gaming employee team. With regards to income, however, croupiers rake within the highest satisfaction of any of workers, gaming and non-gaming alike. Could all those extremely wealthy Asian whales be both impossibly demanding and tippers that https://shmoop.pro/1984-by-george-orwell-part-one-summary/ are also great they winnings? Sure feels like it.
The Approaching Year
Now it just remains become seen in the event that rest of 2013 will be since lucrative as March appears like it will be when all the true numbers are completely tallied.
We know one group especially who is wishing for continued wide range to come hit 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 record-breaking award pool of €921,603 (those Euros translate to $1,193,291).
‘we are delighted in order to launch the Bad that is all-new Beat having an industry record-breaking reward pool of over €920,000,’ announced Andy Horne, head of poker at BetVictor.
More straightforward to Win, More Payouts
Suspended earlier this month to ensure that BetVictor could make a few changes that are positive the structure for its players, the jackpot is now able to be won more easily, with more benefiting from the payout too.
‘Will it achieve €1 million? Who understands.? The modifications mean it will often be won more and by more and more people now,’ explained Horne. ‘The current jackpot will discover over €90,000 paid out to opted-in players playing at similar stakes as the winner, so even although you’re maybe not at the table where it strikes, you are able to share in the good fortune, and that is no bad beat.’
Opt In for Players
Players looking to participate in the Bad Beat Jackpot now require to use the ‘opt-in’ option that you can get on all cash tables above €0.10/€0.20, at which point they are going to add €0.02 towards the increasing jackpot each hand they play a tiny cost to pay for the opportunity to win a chunk of a big prize.
So as to raise the chances of winning, the new qualifying hand has been reduced from four-of-a-kind eights, to four-of-a-kind deuces.
When the lucky winner manages to sweep the jackpot up, 10 percent associated with the prize pool will be distributed to players that have opted in during the stake degree at which the jackpot is hit.
It’s All Yours
In addition, BetVictor, which was established in 1946 and became among the planet’s leading bookmaking that is independent gaming groups, has established that there are going to be no administration fees involved, so the complete jackpot are going to be distributed towards the players involved.
With increased possibilities 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 utilizing the chance of a payout that is decent.
