More Malaysian online gambling raids

Police in Kuching, Sarawak province were busy Thursday, raiding 17 premises in the city and in Padawan municipality and arresting fifteen people, including four foreign nationals on charges related to online gambling.

The commander of the raiding force, DSP Mohd Azam Ismail, told reporters that the police confiscated 280 computers, 15 modem devices, cash and other evidence in the night-time operation.

In related news, Chinese police in Dongguan, Guangdong province have announced that they are also targeting online gambling in their drive against general illegal gambling and drug trafficking.

Internet gambling is widespread in southern China, officials claimed this week, and the remote and borderless nature of the internet makes enforcement more difficult.

One unnamed police officer said that large gambling website operators were often foreign-owned and employed hundreds of people as staff and agents in often complex illegal gambling rings which have spread widely in China. Frequently the police find that as one enterprise is broken up, another surfaces elsewhere, he said.

Police investigations have shown that most Chinese punters bet on football, especially in the British and Spanish premier leagues, with significant increases in gambling activity occurring during World Cup football competitions.

Online casino game gambling is also difficult to detect and investigate, due to illegal systems in which players buy virtual points for cash, using these to gamble online and then remitting their winnings in points for cash.

Related and similar