(Bloomberg) -- Macau’s gaming regulator confirmed that casinos in the gambling hub closed their Suncity Group high-roller gaming rooms, less than a week after the junket operator’s chief executive officer was arrested.

The casinos told Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau that Suncity VIP rooms were suspended from Dec. 1, ending cooperation with the junket operator, the bureau said in a statement. Casinos and junkets in the Chinese territory must comply with the law, the regulator said.

The statement follows reports Wednesday -- including by Bloomberg News -- that Suncity, the biggest junket operator in Macau, was closing all its VIP rooms in casinos there and no longer paying some staff. 

The arrest of Alvin Chau, one of the highest-profile figures in Macau’s gambling world, has smashed Suncity shares, and sent shockwaves through an industry already under siege from growing government intervention. 

Even before Chau’s detention, casinos in Macau were reeling from proposed law changes aimed at bolstering oversight of the sector, which less than three months ago wiped $18 billion off gaming stocks.

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