More online football betting arrests in Asia

News on 7 Jul 2016

The Hong Kong Police has reported what they believe is the breakup of the biggest Euro 2016 online football gambling ring yet, involving around HK$400 million (Euro 47 million) in illegal online bets.

The police raids that dismantled the ring just hours prior to the semi-final between Portugal and Wales also resulted in the arrests of 19 individuals, a police spokesman revealed.

The spokesman claimed the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau raids achieved the single largest seizure of illegal betting records since the Euro 2016 tournament began last month.

In one location which officers searched, they discovered HK$250 million in soccer betting records in a flat.

In raids on other locations police visited apartments in the city and confiscated HK$410,000 in cash, seizing HK$100 million in betting records for soccer games and horse races, and a further HK$300,000 in betting records in another location in the city.

Computers and mobile phones were also confiscated at the three locations.

In a separate operation, police raiding parties working on local intelligence searched several other city apartments, seizing HK$34.2 million in betting records, and arresting two people.

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