A dozen gambling dens routed
Chinese law enforcement has announced that last summer it shut down 12 so-called “gambling dens” in Hunan and Guangdong provinces and arrested 98 people associated with illegal online bets.
According to the Reuters and Xinhua news agencies, those arrested are suspected of “involvement in an online gambling network that has opened more than 500 online casinos, attracting a million members” and possibly generated some 500 billion yuan (US$78 billion) in illegal wagers. Gambling is illegal in Mainland China with the exception of the lottery.
At the center of the action is a suspected multinational online gaming syndicate, reports the South China Morning Post. It supposedly served 1 million registered members on the mainland.
The Ministry of Public Security, which just released information about the July arrests, said the organization with divisions overseas ran more than 500 gambling websites. According to the Beijing News, the sites were “disguised as closed websites such as email, work or financial systems requiring log-ins.” Its main server was based in Taiwan, with customer service staff located in Hong Kong, Thailand and the Philippines.
“From our data analysis, every sign is pointing to a professional team working in the background,” said Peng Zhihong of the Yueyang Public Security Bureau’s internet crime investigation unit.
Police said the suspects created false identities and routinely discarded computer and phone equipment, which made it harder to track them down.
