Massive World Cup football gambling ring bust in Macau
News on 20 Jun 2014
News on 20 Jun 2014
In one of the biggest illegal gambling busts yet seen in World Cup football, police in Macau announced the shuttering of a HK$ 5 billion ($645 million) illegal gambling ring Friday.
In one wager alone placed through the company $5.1 million was risked.
The Agence France Presse reports that 22 individuals were arrested during the police operation
“Records showed that [betting] had reached HK$5 billion. It has already surpassed the biggest betting case in history,” Suen Kam-fai, a spokesman for the Macau police told Hong Kong’s Cable News channel.
The spokesman revealed that more than HK$2 million (US$258,029) in cash was found in Macau hotel rooms that served as the ring’s operating base, along with computers, records and other items…and officers found evidence of one $5.1 million bet.
Those arrested included four Hong Kong residents, nine Malaysians and nine persons from the Chinese mainland, the South China Post reported.
AFP notes that Doha-based watchdog International Centre for Sport Security warned in a May 2014 report that Asian-dominated criminal groups are laundering more than US$140 billion in illegal sports betting annually.
