Major online betting bust in Taiwan

Seventy six suspects allegedly involved in providing illegal cross-border online gambling services to overseas foreign nationals were arrested in Taiwan Wednesday, according to the Taipei City Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division.

A police spokesman revealed that the police operation was set up following a tip-off that an online gambling ring was operating illegally in the Xinyi and New Taipei’s Banqiao districts.

The ring accepted bets from punters in Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Myanmar and China, and police estimate that as much as NT$1 billion (US$33.42 million) was placed in bets in just half a year.

After an investigation, it was found that the illegal gambling enterprise placed bets on overseas illegal gambling websites for its customers, with websites uncovered by investigators in China and across Southeast Asia.

Seventy-four computers, six surveillance cameras and a number of account books were confiscated during raids on several premises, a police spokesman revealed. The suspects are being further investigated by the Taiwan Taipei District Prosecutor’s Office.

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