Illegal Chinese World Cup betting rings are growing fast, but police say they are stepping up a crackdown in response, arresting scores of people nationwide.
Officers in Jiande, Hangzhou Province, said they dismantled a network of cross-border gambling websites that catered to soccer fans, seizing around $148,000 in illegal customer deposits.
Police said the gang was capitalizing on the “nationwide fervor” for the World Cup, the Chinese newspaper Xiaoxiang Morning Post reported.
Detectives used digital forensic tools to monitor a group of suspects and followed up with a 12-hour stakeout.
They raided an unnamed address in the city on June 24, arresting eight suspects.
‘Guaranteed Returns’ on Illegal Sports Bets
The group allegedly used extremely competitive odds to lure users onto the platform. It also promised users “guaranteed returns” on their stakes.
Jiande police said a special task force involving “multiple police departments working together” was helping them combat World Cup-related gambling crimes.
The gang’s organizational structure was extremely sophisticated and highly secretive, officials explained.
Police said three of the suspects, identified as the group’s masterminds, made full confessions and remain in pretrial custody.
The remainder were handed undisclosed administrative penalties for participating in sports betting, the Hangzhou Public Security Bureau confirmed.
Police said the case remains active as they continue to search for additional suspects.
“Online sports betting is not a form of entertainment; it is illegal,” said a Jiande police spokesperson. “All claims of ‘great odds and guaranteed profits’ are scams designed to exploit illegal gamblers.”
Chinese World Cup Betting Rings Run Rampant
Elsewhere in the country, police in Jiangyou, Sichuan Province, arrested four people accused of running a similar website.
The site also promised users guaranteed payouts for wagers on World Cup games, the Chinese media outlet The Paper reported.
Police seized more than 300,000 yuan ($44,000) during a raid on several undisclosed addresses in the city.
Officers said the quartet posted links to their website in a range of WeChat open chatrooms and on other social media platforms.
In a bid to evade detection, the gang members “frequently changed their social media accounts,” a police spokesperson said.
The group also used a range of “temporary payment channels” to transfer the funds they accrued on their platform.
All four suspects have made full confessions, police said, and all remain in custody.
Officers said efforts to recover more funds continue. The search for possible accomplices also remains ongoing.
World Cup Mania Sweeps China
The nationwide crackdown has thus far seen police arrest dozens of people. Officers have also shut down World Cup-themed betting rings in Guangxi Province and Xi’an in recent days.
World Cup mania continues to sweep China. Some 205 million unique viewers have watched matches on the state-owned television network CCTV thus far, bucking many pre-tournament estimates.
Per state-owned media, Chinese fans bought over 40,000 tickets for the tournament despite the fact that China failed to qualify.
That is more than fans in pre-tournament bookies’ favorite nations such as Spain and England.
Illegal sports betting is also on the rise in other soccer-mad Asian nations, such as Indonesia.
