Prostitution in Macau

Casino Lisboa, Macau. "Scores of legally tolerated prostitutes, many of whom live in the casino's hotel, circle the Lisboa's public areas."[1]

Prostitution is legal in Macau[2] unlike in mainland China, because the city is a special administrative region of the country. However, operating a brothel and procuring are both illegal in Macau, with the latter punishable by a maximum jail sentence of 8 years.[3] Street prostitution is illegal but sex work in a massage parlor is considered to be de facto legal.[4] The city has a large sex trade despite there being no official red-light district.[5] In addition to street prostitution, prostitutes work in low-rent buildings, massage parlours and illegal brothels, and the casinos, nightclubs, saunas and some of the larger hotels.[6] Most hotels, however, have suspected prostitutes removed from the premises.[7] Many of the city's sidewalks and underpasses are littered with prostitutes' calling cards.[2]

Macau's economy is based largely on tourism with significant input from gambling casinos, drugs and prostitution[8] which has led to the city being called a Sin City.[1] As the Macau administration relies heavily on taxes from prostitution and gambling,[2] the authorities have traditionally been reluctant to reduce the size of the sex industry.[8] The trade is said to be controlled by Chinese organized crime groups[9] with different gangs made up of people from different provinces in China, a system which has led to violent clashes.[10]

  1. ^ a b Coonan, Clifford (25 July 2009). "China's sin city: Inside the world's biggest gambling den". The Independent. London. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  2. ^ a b c Katie Hunt (18 June 2013). "The dark side of Asia's gambling Mecca". CNN. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
  3. ^ Carvalho, Raquel (5 July 2015). "Macau's sex trade dealt a losing hand". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  4. ^ Zhidong Hao (2011). Macau History and Society. Hong Kong University Press. p. 180. ISBN 9789888028542.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference cracks was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "Macau Sex Ring Bust Shows China Expanding Crackdown on Graft". Bloomberg Business. Shanghai. 16 January 2015. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  7. ^ "Prostitution Solicitations OK At Lisboa Hotel Macau". Thewhistlernews.com. 22 October 2013. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  8. ^ a b Leonard, Barry (2010). Asian Transnational Organized Crime and Its Impact on the United States. DIANE Publishing. p. 10. ISBN 9781437929201.
  9. ^ "2008 Human Rights Report: China (includes Tibet, Hong Kong, and Macau)". www.state.gov. U.S. Department of State. 25 February 2009. Retrieved 16 September 2015. Prostitution is legal and common; however, procurement and the operation of a brothel are illegal. Nevertheless, the SAR had a large sex trade, including brothels, most of which were believed to be controlled by Chinese organized crime groups, and many of those exploited by the trade were women.
  10. ^ Zhidong Hao 2011, p. 180.