The World Cup promises a bonanza for Asia’s massive underground betting operations, and police and gaming regulators across the region will be working overtime to try to thwart them.
Illegal gambling on the tournament is prevalent in countries like Thailand and Malaysia, where football is hugely popular, but which don’t have legal betting alternatives. But even in South Korea and Hong Kong, where betting is legal through licensed outlets, the black market dwarfs the legal market, industry experts recently told Reuters.
At the last World Cup in 2014, held in Brazil, Interpol said during a six-week operation across China, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam law enforcement busted criminal enterprises estimated to have handled around US$2.2 billion worth of bets, mainly through illicit websites. The action is expected be even larger this year because of the proximity in time zones between host country Russia and East Asia.
Asia accounts for 80 percent of the estimated $500 billion in illegal betting volumes globally, according to Transparency International and the Asian Racing Federation, much of it funneled through websites registered offshore, particularly in the Philippines.
Since 2016, Philippine authorities have clamped down on illegal betting operators but there has still been a proliferation in the number of sites in operation, according to officials and executives in the country.
“There is a need to develop and execute a sustainable enforcement strategy for a lasting impact against illegal betting and related transnational organized crime,” said Martin Purbrick, director of security and integrity for the Hong Kong Jockey Club, which holds the Chinese territory’s official racing and betting franchise.
Technology, which emphasizes online and mobile platforms that can offer a wider range of betting options than legal vendors, isn’t making that task any easier to accomplish.
Hong Kong and Macau police, for example, say criminal syndicates often use popular social media platforms like WeChat to offer bets. Online payment providers and cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin have also made it easier for the black market to do business.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club estimates illegal betting turnover in the territory this year, including the World Cup, will be at least US$68 billion, compared to $6.5 billion in Singapore and $79 billion in South Korea annually. Illegal bookmakers are expected to reap HK$750 million during the World Cup alone, the club said.
Hong Kong earns around 5 percent of its budget from taxing legal gambling and views illegal betting as lost potential revenue. The Jockey Club put the potential loss at about HK$13 billion (US$1.7 billion) this year.
In South Korea, police said they would closely monitor illegal sports betting during the World Cup. The same goes for Macau, the world’s biggest casino market, which is expected to see revenues squeezed in June as more gamblers from China wagering on the World Cup than in the casinos, according to gaming analysts. Macau police recently broke up illegal betting operations conducted via WeChat, and in April, police in mainland China broke up a large illegal online gambling ring, arresting more than 100 people, the Xinhua news agency reported.
