Major Chinese online gambling trial commences

A court in Guangzhou district, in China’s Guangdong province, has started hearing the country’s largest illegal online gambling case, involving 484 billion yuan ($78.79 billion) in wagers, reports the Xinhua news service.

The ring mainly attracted betting on international football matches via offshore gambling websites, but was also involved in illegal casino activity.  Nineteen defendants face the court in a trial that is expected to extend over at least four days.

Two principal defendants, named as Huang Jianpei and Chen Ninghai, are charged with operating online gambling websites, prosecutors said, revealing that the duo were arrested in April last year, although the ringleader of the enterprise, identified only as Xie, managed to evade arrest and is now regarded as a fugitive from justice.

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