Macau casinos fear UnionPay mobile terminal crackdown

Macau officials insist there’s no new crackdown on the use of China UnionPay mobile banking terminals in casinos, despite reports to the contrary.

On Tuesday, analysts at both Sanford C. Bernstein and Morgan Stanley issued separate notes claiming that officials had removed UnionPay terminals from pawnshops located in casinos on Macau’s Cotai region.

The affected casinos were operated by Galaxy Entertainment Group, Melco Resorts & Entertainment and Sands China. Other Cotai operators weren’t affected – there aren’t any pawnshops in Wynn Resorts and MGM China’s Cotai casinos – and casinos on Macau’s peninsula region also weren’t targeted, despite that area being where most of the pawnshops are located.

The removals were reportedly ordered by the local branches of ICBC and Bank of China. Chinese banks have been upgrading their UnionPay hardware to comply with increased know your customer (KYC) demands, which aim to cut down on sketchy transactions in the world’s premier gambling hub. But Morgan Stanley reported Wednesday that many pawnshops are in the dark as to when they might get replacement terminals.