The Taiwan High Court upheld Melco Resorts & Entertainment's claim against a Taiwanese VVIP client known as Ku, ordering him to repay about $40.7 million (HK$320.47 million) in debt on a casino credit line in Macau, issued on May 17, 2020, plus penalty interest. The ruling can be appealed.
The court rejected the defendant's objections and upheld the rulings of the lower courts. Ku challenged both the lawsuit itself and the legality of the debt recovery.
According to the case file, on May 17, 2020, the client received non-redeemable chips worth about $38 million from Melco's casino under a credit line. After deducting commissions and rebates of about $1.3 million, the remaining debt stood at about $36 million, and he lost all of it. Penalty interest is 29.25% per year, and by April 2021 it had pushed the debt to HK$320.47 million. Interest continues to accrue until repayment.
Ku claimed that Melco had submitted forged or altered documents and that the surveillance footage was incomplete or edited. The court reviewed the footage along with staff testimony and immigration records and found that the client was in Macau, received the chips and played on that day.
The defendant also argued that receiving chips instead of cash does not constitute a money loan under Taiwanese law. The court found that the parties had agreed on a cash loan exchanged for chips of equal value. Melco was entitled to issue gaming credit in Macau, the parties chose Macau law, and the loan does not violate Taiwan's public order or morals: it is legal in Macau, and the client is an adult who received it voluntarily.
The jurisdiction clause in the contracts favoring Macau courts is non-exclusive, so it did not prevent Melco from filing suit in Taiwan. The client had previously taken out and repaid Melco credit lines, a history going back to 2018, and this helped him obtain higher limits.
