Over the past several years, Macau has gone through a period of tremendous growth. Their casino revenue has now grown to five times the size of their nearest rival, Las Vegas, and 2012 has seen a further increase. Unfortunately, that growth could come to a major halt amid recent gambling-related violence that's left two men and a woman murdered.

Following the murders, area police underwent Operation Thunderbolt, which saw 150 people arrested, 1,300 people questioned, and over US$450,000 seized. No charges have been leveled against any of the 150 suspects who were arrested; however, many of these people have been connected to other crimes such as money laundering, prostitution and illegal gambling. Local Macau officials are hoping that Operation Thunderbolt will help cut down on recent brutal crimes such as the ones listed below.

Casino Owner Beaten

Ng Man Sun, who is a part owner of Greek Mythology Casino, was recently beaten inside of his own restaurant by a gang. What's particularly bad about this is that the perpetrators used sticks and hammers to pound Sun's legs, arms and torso; they even beat the woman he was dining with. Police believe that the beating could be attributed to Sun's feuds with old Macau-area crime bosses.

Three Mysterious Murders in One Week

Last month, authorities were baffled to find two men murdered in the Grand Lapa Hotel. The five-star establishment definitely isn't used to seeing violence of this magnitude. Neither is the luxurious Venetian Casino, which is where a woman was recently found dead.

As discussed before, the woman and both men's murders are thought to be connected with gambling in some way. Expanding on this point, the gambling junket companies that extend credit to high rollers and collect debt sometimes use extreme methods to make gamblers pay loans back. For example, they often withhold passports and call family members of those who owe money. Up to this point, they had never been accused of murder, but authorities aren't totally ruling out this possibility.