Macau reported a significant reduction in gaming-related unlawful detentions in the first quarter of 2018, even as the overall crime rate rose.

On Monday, Macau’s Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak released the official crime statistics for the special administrative region of China over the first three months of 2018. The Macau Judiciary Police (PJ) handled 3,547 cases in Q1, a modest 1.7% increase from the same period last year.

The number of gaming-related cases decreased 9.4% to 384. There was a 20% rise in the number of cases related to loan sharking (107), of which 102 were gaming-related. The increase came despite Wong saying that the PJ had broken up several loan-sharking rings during the quarter.

However, the number of gaming-related detentions – in which gamblers are held until relatives or friends on the mainland can make good the debt – was down nearly 44% to 59. Wong didn’t offer specifics on how the drastic decrease was achieved.