Union calls out Nevada gaming regulators on Macau casino Triad links

So much for the subtle approach.

The International Union of Operating Engineers, through its investigative website, is calling out Nevada casino regulators for being "either unwilling or unable" to police Nevada gaming licensees who do business with controversial junket operators in Macau.

In a letter to Nevada Gaming Commission Chairman Peter Bernhard and Gaming Control Board Chairman Mark Liparelli, the director of the international union’s special projects department invites the regulators to take advantage of the more than 600 pages of investigative information on the link between Chinese Triad-connected junket operators and Macau casinos.

While the letter focuses on the presence of Wo Hop To triad leader Cheung Chi-tai in the middle of the Macau casino junket racket, the challenge to gaming regulators is much greater. (Cheung’s connections to Sands Macau were detailed first in March 2010 by Reuters in a special report.)

"The issue, while focused on Cheung Chi Tai, is not simply to remove him from any involvement and participation in Macau gaming," Fiedler writes, "but rather to take on the real issue — the suitability of Neptune and its affiliates to do business with U.S. based gaming companies operating in Macau.

"It is our understanding that Cheung Chi Tai may have been the source of interest to you in the past when he was found to have been acting as a ‘credit guarantor’ with a Neptune affiliated entity," Fiedler writes. "While he was apparently forced to give up that role, neither the Nevada Gaming Control Board nor the Macau Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau seems to have uncovered that extensive ties remain between Cheung Chi Tai and his associates and Neptune and its affiliates. In our opinion, the Macau authorities are disinterested in pursuing triad influence and involvement in the territory, and Nevada appears either unwilling or unable to perform the enforcement functions that have given it a reputation as a strict gaming regulator."

The web site promises regulate investigative updates on the apparent current links between Triad-associated junket operators and Macau’s multibillion-dollar casino game.

Writes Fiedler, "We believe that the issues we raise are urgent public policy concerns that cannot be ignored given the huge sums of money involved and the dangers that criminal involvement in gaming poses for the people of the United States. Your two organizations currently stand as our first line of defense against the threats posed by triad involvement in international gaming. We, therefore, urge you to initiate this investigation into Cheung Chi Tai and Neptune and report the results to the public in a timely manner and transparent way."

This isn’t a small shot across the bow of either Nevada’s casino giants or the state’s gaming regulatory experts. It has the potential to harm Nevada’s coveted reputation as a place no longer linked to organized crime.