Football championship betting busts in Malaysia skyrocket

Millions of dollars were bet in recent weeks as the Euro 2012 football championships progressed in the Ukraine, Malaysian police reported Thursday.

The enforcement agencies’ always zealous anti-gambling efforts were redoubled during the championship as officials sought to contain rampant online and ‘retail’ illegal gambling by football-mad fans

Police conducted almost 150 raids across Malaysia in May and June in collaboration with officials from China, Macau, Hong Kong and Singapore among other nations, crime investigation chief Bakri Zinin told local media this week.

He said the suspects from five syndicates were involved in betting worth more than 49 million ringgit (US$16 million) on European Football Championship matches and several computers and mobile phones were seized in the raids.

“Sharing of information is the key to nabbing these syndicates, and FIFA is monitoring our operations against these bookies,” said Bakri, adding that football’s ruling body was monitoring Malaysia’s police operations as it fights corruption in sport.

In July 2010, Hong Kong and mainland Chinese police busted a large cross-border illegal football gambling syndicate, seizing betting slips worth more than US$1 billion dollars.

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