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Local branches of Las Vegas and the International Federation of Operational Engineers have called for the federal government to launch a formal investigation into the "historic relationship" between U.S. casino companies and embattled Macau junket operator Suncity Group.

Local 501 of the labor union announced in an official press release Tuesday that it had sent a letter to various branches of the U.S. government requesting a "cooperative investigation by the U.S. federal government" into the business practices of the junket company and its owner, Alvin Chowchuck.


The Regional 501 Branch of the International Federation of Operational Engineers represents approximately 2,000 people primarily employed in construction, heavy equipment and mechanical roles for casinos in southern Nevada. The group further said its petition to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also came after "alarming public reports" of SunCity Group emerged following Chow's arrest in China on controversial illegal gambling and money laundering charges.


The union announced that its requests to the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Treasury, the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and the White House National Security Council were based on claims that Chow had been running a Transverse Gambling Syndicate that allowed Chinese people to "travel by VIP junket" with the aim of participating in various forms of "transverse gambling." The establishment claimed that several overseas casinos owned by U.S. companies should "surprise U.S. officials because they have worked extensively with SunCity Group over the years" to entice "high-end gamblers from the SunCity brand" to play games inside their "exclusive SunCity-branded VIP rooms."


"Alvin Chau Chau Chuch Wa's Suncity Group has operated as a 'junk-kit agent' for casinos throughout East Asia, recruiting and issuing credits, including many people from mainland China, to gamble in exclusive casino VIP rooms. But the VIP-junket industry has long been tainted by organized criminal influence and reports of money laundering."


The Las Vegas chapter of the International Federation of Operational Engineers declared that Chow was banned from travelling to Australia 'on criminal charges' before he was even arrested in late November. The trade union also claimed it came after New South Wales state casino regulators labeled the 47-year-old Chow 'associated with organised crime' after about $4 million was found in one of his company's high rollercoasters inside the Crown Melbourne facility.