GGRAsia – Online bet syndicate with 1mln China clients busted: CCTV

Online bet syndicate with 1mln China clients busted: CCTV

Feb 22, 2024 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck

Police in China’s Sichuan province have reportedly broken up a “criminal syndicate” for online gambling that allegedly lured circa 1 million mainlanders, and generated “capital flow” of up to “CNY725.5 billion” (US$100.9 billion), said state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV). Police also confiscated CNY20 million in cash.

CCTV said – citing the police – that casino play in a resort in the Philippine province of Cagayan, was made available via video stream (pictured) to people on the Chinese mainland. How that came about was not mentioned in the report.

The “cross-border” gambling case had been investigated by Luojiang district police in Deyang, a city in Sichuan in southwest China, with what the broadcaster termed supervision from China’s Ministry of Public Security.

Police detained people across several mainland provinces starting in June last year, after some Luojiang residents had admitted their own online play.

The purported gang had attracted circa “1 million” mainland registrants and involved “over 50,000 agents ” there, tasked with soliciting players, said CCTV.

The Sichuan police thought the “criminal syndicate” was based in the Philippines. The police had so far detained 93 suspects on the mainland: 50 of those had already been sent for trial, charged with the crime of “establishment of casino”.

The duration of the alleged activities was not mentioned in the report. But it cited police saying the group had been hiring staff from the mainland “in the past few years”.

Recruits had allegedly been offered hotel jobs in the Philippines; but on arrival they were put to work on betting operations, including taking in wagers from mainland China players made either via calls on mobile phones or over the Internet. Recruits were also tasked either with handling gambler complaints or dealing with “Internet maintenance”, said CCTV, citing the Chinese authorities.