Chinese police Split illegal online proxy wagering Venture

Law enforcement officials at China have allegedly busted an global gambling ring that had allegedly allowed local punters to place online proxy bets with a website based in the Philippines.

Lucrative business:

According to a Monday story from GGRAsia citing a previous report by the Xinhua News Agency, the illegal operation is thought to have handled wagers worth approximately $1.1 billion and brought in profits of almost $95 million.

Inquiry followed tip-off:

The government-run news agency detailed that authorities arrested 56 people suspected of being behind the illegal Philippines-based operation, which had allegedly earned more than 114,000 users since an official investigation was launched after a tip-off received in January of 2016.

GGRAsia reported that Chinese authorities claim to have infiltrated the illegal gambling operation after identifying four suspects through the information recorded on their bank cards. They then arrested two web technicians at Shanghai last year before gaining access to the iGaming business ’s back-end data.

Suspects to confront prosecution:

Of those arrested, 50 were detained in Shanghai or at the nearby coastal provinces of Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong while a further six were taken into custody elsewhere at the giant nation after returning home from the Philippines and surrendering to local law enforcement officials. The suspects will now be handed over for prosecution.

The news service further detailed that many gambling is prohibited in China with the exception of at the ‘special administrative region’ of Macau, which borders Guangdong. This state of affairs has caused the proliferation of websites that unlawfully enable local punters to place wagers liberally at one of the numerous casinos located in the Philippines.

However, warming ties between both nations saw China as well as the Philippines join forces last year so as to establish a crackdown on such operations. Their first joint exercise in April of 2017 led to the convicted of some 99 people along with the freezing of over 1,000 associated bank accounts.