Major online gambling ring broken up in Vietnam

The Vietnam News Service reports that police in the northern Bac Ninh Province of the country have broken up an illegal online gambling ringt that generated over VNĐ152 billion (US$6.6 million).

Six game arcades were involved in the investigation, which resulted in the arrest of 18 individuals on gambling charges, according to a police spokesman.

He revealed that online punters opened accounts on a gambling website and exchanged real cash for virtual money to gamble at an exchange rate of.VNĐ1 million (US$44). Virtual money won in the games was then exchanged back to real money at an exchange rate of VNĐ1 million of virtual money for VNĐ800,000 ($35) in real cash.

Investigators discovered that more than VNĐ152 billion had been exchanged since January this year.

The Bac Ninh bust is the latest in a series of enforcement actions targeting online gambling in Vietnam; in March this year, police in northern Phu Tho Province prosecuted 70 defendants for their alleged involvement in a major gambling and money laundering case (see previous reports).

The illegal enterprise reportedly had the alleged involvement of Nguyen Thanh Hoa, former head of High-tech Crime Police Department under the Ministry of Public Security. Police seized more than VNĐ1 trillion ($43.9 million) from the gambling ring, and found that an estimated US$3.6 million in foreign currencies was transferred to overseas accounts.

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