Beijing doesn’t want them, but what would Macau be without junkets?

When it comes to making a killing, you’d be hard pressed to find a business model more adept than the junket operators who procure, pamper and when required, punish the big-spending VIP gamblers who for decades have been the lifeblood of Macau’s casino industry.

Junkets – often owned or run by individuals of questionable provenance – are the firms which source, lend money and provide “extras” to men – and women – willing to lose HK$100,000 on the turn of a card and come back for more in the blink of an eye.

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For this they pay the people who put up the capital to build and now run some of the most ostentatious and expensive casinos in the former Portuguese enclave a handsome rent, but nothing like as handsome as the lashings of cash which swell their considerable coffers.

And that’s just what you can see. It is widely acknowledged but rarely discussed by the powers that be, that under-the-table, off-the-book bets can make the legitimate stuff look like petty cash.

Without the junkets – and their often shady links to organised crime and racketeering, casinos in what has become the world’s gaming capital would not, and probably could not, have existed.