9
第16期 2012年5月/6月 |
#16MAY/JUN2012
MembersofthecasinoindustryfromMacautoLasVegashavebeenscratchingtheir
collectiveheadssincetheFebruary launchofanewwebsite,casinoleaks-macau.com.
The sitepoints the finger at theMacaugaming industry and expounds for hundreds
ofpages
adnauseam
onhow terribleMacauandeveryoneconnected to it is.
My initial response was to ignore this
website as simply anonymous muckraking
unworthy of a dignified response, and most
likely fuelledby jealousy,greed,China-hatredor
someother dishonorablemotivation. However,
as time has passed, other publications have
reportedon thesite, and it’sbeen thesubjectof
numerous conversations I’ve hadwith gaming
andmedia figuresalike.
While the existence of the site has been
widely reported, there has been little in the
wayof analysisor investigation into thepeople
behind itorthereal reason for itsexistence.With
the publication of this article, all that is about
to change. The article is necessarily longgiven
our thoroughanalysisand thecomplexityof the
subjectmatter.
What is CasinoLeaksMacau?
While obviously styling its name on the
controversial whistle-blowing website
WikiLeaks, CasinoLeaks Macau isn’t a leak site
at all. It claims at somepoint in the future itwill
be, but of course that is contingent onwhether
anybodyactually leaksanything to it.
As it stands right now, CasinoLeaksMacau
is simplyahuge researchproject, re-organizing
publiclyavailable information,andre-presenting
it inaholier-than-thoutone. ItsmearstheMacau
gaming industry, throwing asmuchdirt at it as
possible.Thesite is litteredwith innuendo,veiled
assertionsandweaselwords. Itsstapletactic isto
attempt toconnect theMacaugaming industry
withorganizedcrime inanywaypossible.
In some cases the information on the site
ismore than a decade old. It is predominantly
sourced from corporate filings in various
countries including Macau, Hong Kong and
Singapore. There are also references to various
newspaper articles that have been published
over the years. These articles range from
uncontentious reporting towild speculation.
CasinoLeaksMacau describes itself as “an
independent, criticalwebsite sponsoredby the
International Union of Operating Engineers
(IUOE) and dedicated to shedding light on
areas of theMacaugamingworld that industry
stakeholders – government regulators, casino
operators, financial institutions – haveworked
tokeepoutof thepubliceye.”
Ostensibly, the website is the brainchild
ofMr Jeff Fiedler, the IUOE’sDirector of Special
Projects and Initiatives, whatever that means.
The office of the IUOE is located at 1125 17th
StreetNorthwest,WashingtonDC in theUnited
States, just500meters from theWhiteHouse. I’ll
havemore to say about the potential political
connection later.
So what is the IUOE? First of all, its only
claim to being “international” is that some of
its members come from Canada. The union
is essentially American, and claims to have
400,000 members. It says 1,000 of these are
casino stationaryengineers inNevada.What’sa
stationaryengineer? That’s theguywho comes
to replace the blown light bulb in your hotel
room, or fixesyour faultyair-conditioning.
Why would the IUOE create such a
website? Fiedler has been quoted as saying,
“It is in the interestsof our stationaryengineer
members that their bosses, especially senior
management, are honest and not involved in
anything untoward. We believe that the job
security of our members is based, at least in
part, on completely law-abiding bosses.” He’s
also said, “The IUOE is simply concerned that
triad involvement in gaming inMacau, which
now has a significant US presence, will infect
the American gaming system. We believe it
has already reduced the standards of Nevada
gaming authorities. And since theseoperators
are expanding to other states the potential
for weakening the entire regulatory system
is quite real. Wewant to prevent this.” Fiedler
has described theMacau regulatory system as
“completelywithout rigor”.
Who is
really
behindCasinoLeaks
Macau andwhy?
In addition to his union position, Fiedler has a
high-level China-related appointment in the
USgovernment, and a life-longobsessionwith
China-bashing, both of which I’ll get to later.
Despite theseobviousconnections toChina, he
claimsCasinoLeaksMacau isentirelytheworkof,
andmotivatedby, the IUOE.
I donotbelievehim foronemoment.
The connection between the Macau
gaming industry and the working conditions
of one quarter of one percent of the union’s
members (if we are to believe the IUOE’s own
figures) is so spurious it’s laughable. It really is
an insult toour intelligence to attempt todraw
this longbow.
I asked a verywell knowngaming analyst
whoworks for amajorbankhisopiniononhow
much it would cost to create the website. His
responsewas, “maybe twomillionUS dollars!”
Personally I think it would be hundreds of
thousands, but despite our disagreement on
precisequantum, there isnodoubt itwasavery
expensiveexercise toput thesite together. I can
imagineasmall armyof researchersworking for
close to a year, not tomentionnumerous legal
searches and fees. And the cost is ongoing,
as CasinoLeaks Macau continues to publish.
Someone is financingall this.
CasinoLeaksMacau:
OurAnalysis
