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In August 2019, the Macau Police Department learned that Macau ", led by a group leader surnamed Zhou, used the casino VIP lounge business in Macau to set up gambling platforms overseas and solicit mainland residents to engage in illegal online gambling, and the group transferred and disguised the illegal property obtained through the casino VIP club account and through illegal channels by underground money banks." The case was turned into a project in-depth investigation in April 2020.
On November 26, 2021, the Wenzhou Municipal People's Procuratorate made a decision to approve zhou Zhuohua's arrest after reviewing it according to law.
In the early morning of November 27, 2021, 11 people involved in the case were "arrested in various units of a commercial building in The Dynasty and a residential unit in Coloane", including a 47-year-old businessman surnamed Zhou. At that time, when asked whether the case was related to wenzhou's notification of the arrest case, it said that there was no information on the relevant cases in the mainland, and the case was based on intelligence collection and investigation.
On June 21, 2022, the WeChat public account of the Macao Daily News reported that according to the schedule of the Macao Primary Court, the case of Sun City founder Zhou Zhuohua will be tried on September 2. Zhou Zhuohua was charged with "illegal gambling, quite a huge amount of fraud, criminal group" and other crimes, involving an amount of 680 billion yuan and more than 90 prosecution witnesses. Some media have estimated that according to the provisions of the Macao Criminal Code, if all the crimes are convicted, Zhou Zhuohua can be sentenced to up to 33 years in prison.
(Information integration by Macao Daily WeChat public account)
There is a difference between a pickpocket and a stacked yard
Chow was born in Macau in 1974. In 1994, the twenty-something-year-old Chow Chun-wah began to set foot in Macau's gaming industry, and in his early years, he wandered into the overpass and wharf and became a "pickpocket" or "stacked yard boy".
Why is it "pickpocket" or "stacked code boy", because the two are not the same, from the various information seen on the Internet, it is impossible to judge whether Zhou Zhuohua, who was involved in the gambling industry at the beginning of the early years, became a "pickpocket" or directly became a "stacked code boy".
Pickpockets
Pickpockets are at the bottom of the gambling industry chain, and they specialize in chasing and blocking various piers and checkpoints in Macau to attract tourists to the casino, which is equivalent to brokers. They can't eat casino kickbacks, and the only thing they can eat is the tourists.
Usually, the pickpocket will lend money to tourists who are not familiar with the routine or have no money on them but want to gamble, and then draw water from it. In order to win over the guests, the pickpocket promises no interest when lending money to tourists, and at the same time agrees with the borrower that a commission will be drawn in every chip under the casino. An online article reviewing Zhou Zhuohua's history of his family mentioned that this way of borrowing was conceived by Zhou Zhuohua and made him stand out from the crowd of pickpockets.
The background of the pickpocket's origin is very complicated. Some are inextricably linked to associations; Some have been in the industry for a long time and have a certain amount of savings, and can work alone. One of them is called "pickpockets in the pickpockets", the most despised, they pull themselves to the powerful to transfer, from which to collect the head fee, most of these pickpockets are local idle grandparents, or lost money in the casino, in urgent need of gambling funds to return the rotten gamblers.
The story of stacked yard boys
Stacked code boys will play with the chips in their hands when they are idle, stacked on the table one by one, stacked over and stacked over, which is the origin of "stacked code boys".
Stacked Yard Boys are not stragglers, their commissions are given by the casino. In the 1980s, Macau's casinos would set up a VIP lounge in the best location outside of slot machines and halls, mainly to receive high-rollers. Vip room bets are as low as a few thousand and up to one million.
How to fill a lounge with so-called quality customers? Stacked yard boy to find a guest.
The casino will give each stacked code boy a huge amount of credit chips, stacked code boy directly lend his chips to the high roller to bet, wait for the guest to leave the table, the VIP hall accounting room calculates how many yards the guests borrow on this stacked code boy, and the stacked code boy can draw commission from this amount.
The gray area is "gambling floor". The casino rules may be torn apart between the gambler and the stacked code boy, and the odds may be increased privately, one loss on the table, and three times, five times, ten times, or even higher under the stage. The jargon is called one drag three, one drag five, one drag ten.
In addition, the stacked code boy can have an assistant, called a number boy. He is not eligible to get credit chips from the gambling hall, and his main daily job is to assist the stacked code boy to follow the customer, serve the customer, and help run errands. The so-called "follow-up" is to calculate the number of chips that the customer bets when the customer comes to the table. With a monthly salary, the salary is relatively fixed, and customers who encounter generous can receive tips.
A well-done stacking boy, accumulating a rich amount of money, can pack the entire gambling hall with the casino, and then return a group of little brothers to stack the code, and they will be the owner of the hall.
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From "Zhou Zhuohua" to "Washing Rice", from "Washing Rice" to "Zhou Zhuohua".
There are two kinds of pickpockets, "pickpockets in pickpockets" and "pickpockets in pickpockets", but one is up and one is down.
There are also two kinds of stacked codes, "stacked codes in stacked codes" and "stacked codes in stacked codes", one up and one down.
Whether it is a pickpocket or a stacked yard boy, it is obvious that Zhou Zhuohua is the one who wants to go up. In 1995, Chow Chun-wah was introduced to the macau gambling tycoon Yin Guoju, known as the "Broken Tooth Pony". Later, he was promoted by Liang Anqi, the fourth wife of the "gambling king" He Hongshen, and after Yin Guoju was imprisoned, Zhou Zhuohua contracted a large number of casino VIP halls from Liang Anqi and soon became the local "king of gambling halls". In 2014, Chow's Suncity Group has expanded from a small workshop with only a few tables to the largest gaming intermediary to establish partnerships with macau's six major gambling card holders. In 2019, some people counted that among the casinos in Macau, Sun City had the most momentum, and in 2019, it had 14 gambling halls.
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Zhou Zhuohua is not eligible to get gambling cards and open casinos, and his real rise depends on the Internet. With the advent of the Internet era, Zhou Zhuohua moved the casino from offline to online, he won the online gambling licenses in the Philippines and Cambodia, launched the Sun City network platform, developed online gambling business, provided various gambling online, and broadcast live bookmakers. In addition to the gaming industry, Zhou Zhuohua also dabbled in film, real estate, finance and other fields, accumulated huge wealth, and became the most admired "washing rice" in the jianghu rumors, and the lace news between his wife Chen Huiling and model Mandy Lieujian once added to the anecdote.
How Zhou Zhuohua's case will be decided in the end will take some time to know, but it is certain that the ending was written by his own hand. The causal cycle has its own definite number. As Macau has said in the past, What Macao has given them is two completely different results, one soaring and the other dying alone. But two outcomes could be on different sections of a road, at different times.
Macau is a treasure island, and the treasure you have looted there is the culprit that weighs on your ship back. Are you going to guard these gold and silver jewels? You'll have to stay in Macau forever.
- "The Desperate Bet of Macao's Past"
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Finally, I would like to say a little bit about money and gambling.
Regarding money, "there is a way to take it, a degree to use it, and a comfort to keep it." ”
About gambling, stay away from gambling, cherish life, cherish family, do not overestimate human nature and self-control.
"Gambling is a dyeing vat, it is dirty when it is dipped, it is expensive to gamble in hours, it is a big gambler, silver and white flowers, butcher knives are bright and dangling, wise people are easy to be bold when they gamble, and it is difficult to reap the reins of good horses to the cliffs." The next one, perhaps, is a dead end.
Regarding the concept of 680 billion, it is said that "weighing 7820 tons, can buy half of China Mobile or a Wuliangye, A shares have 15 listed companies with more than 600 billion yuan".