Zhou Zhuohua sentenced to 18 years in prison Image source: Southern Metropolis Daily
"Seeing him rise up Zhu Lou, seeing him banquet guests, seeing his building collapse!"
Global figure WeChat public account news, 18 years + 8.5 billion Hong Kong dollars, "small gambling king" completely "gambled and lost" life.
According to the "Macao Daily News", the Macao Primary Court pronounced a verdict on the morning of the 18th against Zhou Zhuohua (nicknamed "Ximihua"), the founder of Suncity Group, in an illegal gambling case.
The court ruled that most of the charges in the case were facts, and found that Zhou Zhuohua was convicted of the crime of "illegally operating gambling in the local area", the crime of considerable fraud, the crime of considerable fraud (unsuccessful), the crime of "illegal gambling operation" and the crime of underworld ", and sentenced him to 18 years in prison.
In addition, Zhou Zhuohua had to pay civil damages of more than HK$8.5 billion (HK$1 is about 0.86 yuan) to the Macau SAR government and gaming companies such as MGM, Wynn and Venetian.
From the "errand brother" to the net worth of tens of billions, and then to prison, the second half of the 49-year-old Zhou Zhuohua's life is embarrassing.
Hong Kong media reported a photo of Zhou Zhuohua's arrest
The amount involved was beyond imagination
Zhou Zhuohua's Suncity gaming junket is the largest gaming junket in Macau in recent years.
In the past, whenever he attended public events, he was dubbed "Little Gambling King", "New Gambling King" and "King of Gambling Halls" by Hong Kong and Macao media.
However, on July 8, 2019, a report in the Economic Information Daily caused a thousand waves with one stone.
According to the report, the cross-border online gambling platform of Zhou Zhuohua and Suncity Group is extending its "black hands" to the mainland.
"There are no geographical restrictions, and the servers located overseas are very secure." According to reports, whenever a customer gambles in Suncity Group's offline VIP room, the account manager will introduce the group's online gambling platform.
After registering an account, mainland gamblers can watch real-time videos of casinos in the Philippines, Cambodia and other places on the platform, and place bets remotely by phone or app. The APP's voice function supports not only Mandarin, but also Cantonese, Northeast dialect and other dialects, which is almost specifically designed for the mainland market.
Some gamblers said that the big scene with a luxurious gambling hall as the background, transmitted through cameras and the Internet, "gives people a strong sense of realism."
Since there are no physical objects such as chips or cash in hand, gamblers lack psychological pressure when placing bets and are more likely to become addicted.
There are countless cases of high debts and bankruptcy, and some people have lost more than 13 million yuan in three years.
What is even more exaggerated is that gamblers' gambling funds can be settled directly in RMB on the mainland. The platform has a special mainland gambling fund settlement department, and tens of billions of yuan of gambling funds are collected into countless mainland bank cards every year, and then flowed overseas through underground banks.
Sun City online gambling platform. Image source: Economic Information Daily
The exact amount may be beyond imagination.
According to the Economic Information Daily that year, Suncity Group's online gambling platform has become a "black hole for attracting gold", operating for four years, developing hundreds of thousands of members, and the betting amount from the mainland in a year is more than one trillion yuan, equivalent to nearly twice the total revenue of China's lottery of 511.47 billion yuan in 2018.
As soon as the article was published, it immediately caused an uproar in China, especially in Macao.
The share price of Suncity Group, listed in Hong Kong, fell by 20% at one point, and there were even rumors that "Zhou Zhuohua absconded".
Zhou Zhuohua once also came out to refute the rumor: "We are a Macao institution, Macao people's enterprise, as a citizen of the Macao Special Administrative Region of China, my career is Macao, my family is Macao, my roots are Macao, and my heart is to the motherland!" ”
Zhou Zhuohua held a press conference to refute rumors
As a result, the real hammer came quickly.
On November 26, 2021, the Wenzhou Procuratorate in Zhejiang Province approved the arrest of Zhou Zhuohua on suspicion of opening a casino in the mainland.
According to a case report issued by the Wenzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau, in July 2020, the bureau opened a casino case for investigation. Later, the bureau found that the cross-border gambling criminal group headed by Zhou Zhuohua was suspected of committing the crime of opening casinos in China, and the circumstances were serious.
Wenzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau circular
In May 2022, the Macao Procuratorate completed the investigation of the case and formally filed a complaint against Zhou Zhuohua, and the trial began on September 2 of the same year.
In the indictment, Zhou Zhuohua was charged with 229 counts of "unlawful gambling in permitted places", 54 counts of "considerable fraud" and 3 counts of "attempted fraud of considerable sum".
At the same time, he was also suspected of using Macao as a base to open VIP rooms in the Philippines, Vietnam and other places through Suncity Group to operate gambling, live broadcast gambling activities in local casinos, attract Macao and mainland residents to gamble illegally by telephone and online, and transfer illegal gains through underground banks and other means, so he was charged with "illegal gambling operation" and "aggravated money laundering crimes".
Hong Kong's Sing Tao Daily previously reported that the amount involved in illegal betting exceeded HK$800 billion, and there were more than 90 prosecution witnesses.
Start with the bottom "stacking code"
From his arrest to his sentence, Zhou Zhuohua's life story continues to attract attention.
His ancestral home is Zhaoqing, Guangdong, and his family moved to Macau during his grandfather's generation. However, the Zhou family did not achieve a class jump after arriving in Macau. When Zhou Zhuohua was born in 1974, his family was still humble, and he could even be said to be poor.
Without any background in wealth, he dropped out of school early and entered society before the age of 20. Soon, Zhou Zhuohua found that for young people like him, there was not much room left by society for development.
"At that time, Macaoese wanted to work in some big institutions and needed the asset guarantee of two Portuguese. Even if you go in, the senior positions are all Portuguese. In an interview with the media years later, he said.
In the 90s, Macau had not yet returned to the motherland, but the gaming industry was already booming, and many Macau people were employed in casinos.
In 1994, Zhou Zhuohua also got an errand in the casino and became a "stacking boy" under the "big brother of the rivers and lakes" Yin Guoju.
Zhou Zhuohua (left) and Yin Guoju
The so-called "stacking code" is the person who introduces gamblers to the casino and provides lending services for gamblers, which can be said to be the predecessor of gaming junkets.
The Huili Casino, controlled by Wan Kwok-ju, is the only casino in Macau connected to the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal. At that time, gamblers borrowing money from stackers needed to deduct 20% interest first, such as borrowing 10,000 yuan, only 8,000 yuan, and repaying 10,000 yuan when repaying the money. Interest was deducted before the money arrived, a disguised usury that made many gamblers dissatisfied.
So, Zhou Zhuohua thought of a new way: instead of deducting interest in advance, the stacker accompanied the gambler to exchange the loan for chips. Every time a gambler places a bet, Stacker takes 10% of the bet.
The practice of not having to pay interest first makes gamblers feel that they have more gambling capital and are more willing to borrow. And every time they enter the casino, they have to place at least dozens of bets, even all night, and the commission of the bets adds up, and the stackers will also get more profits.
Zhou Zhuohua's reputation began at once.
It happened that during that period, Hong Kong TVB broadcast the TV series "City Story", and one of the characters nicknamed "Ximihua" looked a little like Zhou Zhuohua, and "Ximihua" also became Zhou Zhuohua's nickname.
According to Hong Kong media reports, Zhou Zhuohua's first pot of gold was actually related to the online gambling that made him broken.
In 1998, feeling the coming of the Internet wave, he obtained an online gaming license in the Philippines and operated a betting website, which was very popular with gamblers.
Some relevant business sources estimate that Zhou Zhuohua has accumulated a wealth of at least 1 billion Hong Kong dollars through this - it can be said that Zhou Zhuohua has already made a lot of money when many peers have not reacted.
In 2007, Zhou Zhuohua founded Suncity Group in Macau and began to build his gaming junket empire.
He found ways to expand his business footprint: pioneered SMS promotion in the industry and pioneered the establishment of a customer relationship management system to accurately record the habits of each VIP gambler. In order to cater to gamblers' love of showing off their wealth, he also develops services that others do not have, such as providing luxury RVs for gamblers.
By 2014, Suncity Group had developed from a small workshop with a few gaming tables to a gaming junket that cooperated with the six major gambling license holders in Macau, and almost every casino had a VIP room under his control, with more than 300 gaming tables, becoming the highest turnover gaming junket in Macau.
Zhou Zhuohua and Suncity Group
On this basis, Zhou Zhuohua began to get involved in tourism, catering, finance, real estate and other industries, and the group's business developed overseas, covering Australia, Russia, Cambodia, the Philippines, South Korea and Vietnam. He also founded Sun Entertainment Culture to enter the entertainment industry.
In 2009, Zhou Zhuohua established the "Poker King Club" at StarWorld Macau, and made a movie called "Poker King" for this purpose, inviting Koo Tianle and Liu Qingyun to star.
Since then, Sun Entertainment Culture has invested in and produced nearly 65 films with a total box office of HK$13 billion. Zhou Zhuohua has also served as a co-producer and producer of several films.
With the blessing of diversified businesses, Zhou Zhuohua has become one of the richest people in Hong Kong and Macao. It is rumored that he is worth more than 10 billion Hong Kong dollars.
Private life in a place "dog blood"
Many mainland netizens have an impression of Zhou Zhuohua, not because his career is big, but because his private life is quite "bloody" and lace news is constant.
A widely circulated news is that on Zhou Zhuohua's 39th birthday, he booked three floors in a hotel in Macau to celebrate. There were about a dozen security personnel on site, and each guest had to check the invitation. Zhou Zhuohua, who likes to be lively, ordered people to set up a stage by the pool, and invited a group of young models wearing bikinis to liven up the atmosphere.
According to Hong Kong and Macao media reports, Zhou Zhuohua has had two wives, the first wife broke up due to incompatible personality, and the second and current wife is Chen Huiling, who is known by the media as "sister-in-law Ximi".
Zhou Zhuohua (right) and his wife Chen Huiling attend the event
Chen Huiling started as an insurance saleswoman and met Zhou Zhuohua while running a business. After the two got married, Zhou Zhuohua still frequently exposed scandals about private actresses and models, but the relationship between the couple was still stable until model Liu Bili appeared in 2015.
Liu Bili is an American and Malaysian mixed-race, 11 years younger than Zhou Zhuohua, who debuted in the early years because of an advertisement for a magnolia oil, and her outstanding beauty impressed countless people and was called "Olay Oil Girl" by netizens.
In 2015, some Hong Kong media photographed Zhou Zhuohua and Liu Bili holding hands on the street and returning home, and the high-profile "Century One Pull" immediately became the front page headlines of many media. Chen Huiling filed for divorce, but Zhou Zhuohua did not agree.
Zhou Zhuohua (right) holds hands with Liu Bili on the street
The coexistence of the two women continued until 2020. During this period, Liu Bili gave birth to three daughters and a son for Zhou Zhuohua.
And "washing rice sister-in-law" Chen Huiling, as always, often posts photos reflecting family happiness on social platforms.
Is Zhou Zhuohua's life really as proud as he shows?
Not necessarily.
Combing through public information can find that since he was exposed by the media in 2019 to be suspected of breaking the law, Zhou Zhuohua and his glittering Sun City have seen some cracks. In early August 2019, Australian media reported that Zhou Zhuohua had been banned from entry by the Australian Department of Home Affairs on suspicion of being related to organized crime. Suncity Group issued a clarification announcement on this, but the group's share price still fluctuated.
At the end of August 2021, Zhou Zhuohua sold all his shares in Sun International (a financial company in the Suncity system) and cashed out more than HK$70 million, nearly HK$1.1 billion less than the high of the stock.
In addition, Suncity Group has also been accused of money laundering and supporting "Hong Kong independence". In response, Zhou Zhuohua responded that he would never support any behavior that harmed the country, and took the initiative to recommend strengthening gambling supervision, including promoting customer real-name, transparent funding channels, and limiting the credit limit of mainland visitors to Australia.
In 2020, Zhou Zhuohua responded to rumors on video
At the beginning of 2021, he also took the opportunity of the New Year's outlook to reaffirm his need to be patriotic and law-abiding, emphasizing "firmly implementing the spirit of patriotism and love for Macao".
Today, his remarks appear to be ironic.
In recent years, the mainland's efforts to crack down on cross-border gambling have been strengthened. Since 2020, the Ministry of Public Security and relevant departments have continued to promote the crackdown on cross-border gambling, eliminating more than 3,400 online gambling platforms, more than 2,800 illegal payment platforms and underground banks, more than 1,300 illegal technical teams, and more than 2,200 gambling promotion platforms. In 2021, cross-border gambling crimes were criminalized for the first time.
Has Zhou Zhuohua, who has always been a long-sleeved dancer, sensed in advance that what he did was about to be revealed? We don't know. But it is clear that his cover-up operations can never conceal his crimes.
"Seeing him rise up Zhu Lou, seeing him banquet guests, seeing his building collapse!" This sentence in "Peach Blossom Fan" has also become the best annotation in the first 49 years of Zhou Zhuohua's life.
Source: Poster News
Editor: Chen Yueyao