On July 3, the “Macau Gambling King” Zhou Zhuohua (nicknamed “Xihua”) was sentenced to 18 years in prison by the final appeal court, along with 9 other defendants who were collectively fined a staggering 24.865 billion Hong Kong dollars. It is alleged that this case is related to power struggles within the top ranks of the Chinese Communist Party.
According to the official website of the Macau Special Administrative Region Government, on July 3, the final appellate court made a ruling on the appeal case involving criminal offenses of the Sun City Group. Zhou Zhuohua was sentenced to 18 years in prison, while the remaining 8 defendants received sentences ranging from 9 to 12 years.
The court ruled that the appellants, including Zhou Zhuohua, Si Tuzhihao, Zhang Yiping, Ma Tianlun, Zhang Zhijian, Zhou Zhenxi, Lu Shibin, Wang Boling, and Liang Shurong, had lost their appeals against the original sentencing by the intermediate court, resulting in individual sentences of 18 years, 10 years, 10 years, 12 years 6 months, 12 years 6 months, 12 years 6 months, 12 years 3 months, 12 years 6 months, and 9 years.
Furthermore, the final appellate court changed the method of fines, requiring the 9 defendants to collectively pay a sum of up to 24.865 billion Hong Kong dollars (approximately 23.15 billion yuan).
The case involving Zhou Zhuohua has been closely watched, as the “Zhou Zhuohua Cross-Border Gambling Crime Group Case” was one of the top ten cases in the “New Era Promoting the Rule of Law in 2023” by the Supreme People’s Court of the Chinese Communist Party.
According to publicly available information, Zhou Zhuohua was born in 1974 in Macau and hails from Zhaoqing, Guangdong. In 1994, he entered the Macau gambling industry, starting out as a “chip runner” or “chip stacker” in casinos. The main responsibility of a “chip runner” is to assist gamblers in exchanging loans for chips, taking a 10% cut from each bet.
In 1995, at the age of 21, Zhou Zhuohua joined the Macau gambling tycoon Wan Guoju, also known as “Bengya Ju.” In 1999, Wan Guoju was arrested and imprisoned, but Zhou Zhuohua visited him in prison multiple times, gaining his favor over time. With the help of Wan Guoju’s connections and influence, Zhou Zhuohua shifted to operating and managing VIP clubs in entertainment venues, eventually becoming the “King of Gambling Halls” in the region.
In 1998, Zhou Zhuohua obtained an online gambling license in the Philippines and operated the Sun City gambling website, offering various forms of gambling including live streaming of games with real dealers, which garnered popularity among gamblers.
Insiders indicated that the Sun City online gambling platform operated for over four years with an estimated membership of tens of thousands of individuals. The average monthly betting amount from mainland China surpassed 100 billion yuan, with an annual turnover exceeding trillions of yuan, almost double the total revenue of China’s lottery industry in 2018.
Apart from gambling, Zhou Zhuohua was involved in various industries including finance, real estate, and entertainment, expanding his business overseas. With the diversification of his business underpinnings, Zhou Zhuohua rose among the ranks of wealthy individuals in Hong Kong and Macau.
Additionally, Zhou Zhuohua held several public positions such as a member of the Macau Government’s Cultural Industries Committee, a member of the 11th Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, and an honorary advisor of the Macau branch of the China Association for Promoting Peaceful Reunification.
In July 2020, Zhou Zhuohua was placed under investigation, and in November 2021, he was arrested by the Wenzhou Public Security Bureau. In January 2023, Zhou Zhuohua was convicted in Macau on charges of participating in organized crime, illegal gambling operations, fraud, and other crimes, and sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Following the news of Zhou Zhuohua’s arrest for cross-border gambling, there were speculations suggesting that he used patriotic films as a cover for money laundering. However, some analysts pointed out that Zhou Zhuohua’s case may be linked to power struggles within the Chinese Communist Party.
It is worth noting that just a month before Zhou Zhuohua’s investigation, the resume of Liu Yuejin, a member of the CCP’s Politics and Law Committee and deputy director of the Anti-Terrorism Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security, was quietly removed from the official website of the Ministry of Public Security. It was not until March of this year that the authorities announced his investigation. Liu Yuejin was alleged to have connections to Zhou Zhuohua’s case.
Liu Yuejin had previously held positions such as Director of the Office of the Ministry of Public Security and Deputy Director (Ministerial Level) of the Drug Enforcement Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security, reporting to the then Minister of Public Security, Meng Jianzhu, and Guo Shengkun.
Liu Yuejin led the investigation into the “Mekong River 10.5 Case.” According to reports from state media, in October 2011, the “Naw Kham Group” in the Myanmar-Thailand border region killed 13 Chinese crew members on two cargo ships on the Mekong River. Liu Yuejin, then the Director of the Drug Enforcement Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security, served as the head of the special task force.
The Hong Kong newspaper “Sing Tao Daily” reported that the case was later adapted into the main theme movie “Operation Mekong.” The film was directed by Hong Kong director Lin Chaoxian, with Liu Yuejin serving as the film’s chief advisor and the inspiration for the character Jiang Haifeng in the movie. Zhou Zhuohua, as the producer of the film, through his Sun Entertainment company, was a co-producer of the movie.
According to reports by the state media of the Chinese Communist Party, on November 1, 2016, Meng Jianzhu, then Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, held talks with key creators of the film “Operation Mekong” in Beijing. Meng Jianzhu highly praised the movie. Guo Shengkun, then Minister of Public Security, Fu Zhenghua, then Deputy Minister of Public Security, as well as Sun Lijun, a member of the Ministry of Public Security’s Party Committee, also attended the meeting.
Renowned legal scholar Yuan Hongbing in Australia revealed to Epoch Times on November 29, 2021 that Zhou Zhuohua was actually a puppet of the Jiang faction, including Jiang Zemin, Zeng Qinghong, and Meng Jianzhu, elite families within the CCP’s leadership. The purpose of his arrest was to dismantle the economic foundation of Jiang Zemin, Zeng Qinghong, Meng Jianzhu, and others.
Yuan Hongbing stated that the swift arrest of the Macau Gambling King was facilitated by the direct orders from Wang Xiaohong, who currently oversees the entire public security system. Under Wang Xiaohong’s direct command, the swift capture of the gambling king was made possible.
An editorial by writer Gao Tianyou in the Hong Kong newspaper “Sing Tao Daily” on November 29 speculated that, as described by the person in charge of the People’s Bank of China, many gamblers transferred betting funds through QR codes, making the “Zhou Zhuohua list” in the hands of the authorities potentially revealing staggering connections.
Gao Tianyou’s article proposed that through the list of Zhou Zhuohua’s 80,000 gambling member names, a significant number of public officials and state-owned enterprise personnel who engaged in gambling activities may be uncovered.
Political commentator Yue Shan, in an article for Epoch Times, believed that capturing Zhou Zhuohua was a multi-faceted move by the leadership in Beijing: cracking down on gambling-related money laundering and preventing capital outflow; compelling Macau gambling operators to divulge VIP client lists, potentially exposing corrupt officials; dismantling the protective umbrella of high-level officials behind the Macau gambling industry; setting an example case for the vision of “common prosperity.” Ultimately, it was a move to exploit the situation for financial gains for the party-state, while also seizing the opportunity to purge and control the political and business circles in Macau, aiming to establish centralized control over the gambling industry.