Chinese gambling defendants sentenced

A conclusion was reached Thursday in what has been described as one of China’s biggest online gambling ring busts – and there have been a few – when a court Guangzhou, Guangdong province sentenced 68 defendants to terms of imprisonment ranging from 17 months to 9 years, depending on how deeply involved they were in the illegal enterprise.

Additional fines and penalties levied by the court included monetary amounts ranging from 50,000 yuan to 20 million yuan.

Earlier, the court had heard that the ring handled bets worth 484 billion yuan (about $78 billion), the news site ECNS.cn reports.

Visibly embarrassed, the defendants wore yellow prison shirts and black shorts when they appeared en masse before the court.