Police in Hong Kong and China bust massive cross-border illegal betting ring
Cross-border operation apparently run by triads allegedly took in up to HK$500 million a day, police say after raids in HK and mainland
Investigators in Hong Kong and the mainland have smashed a cross-border gambling syndicate that took up to HK$500 million a day in illegal soccer bets, police said yesterday.
Police rounded up 29 people, including 26 in Hong Kong. A senior officer said it was probably the biggest such bust of a syndicate in the city's history.
Police confiscated records of HK$767 million in bets on soccer matches and horse racing from the syndicate's bases in Hong Kong and Guangdong after a months-long probe that ended in a series of raids on Sunday.
The arrests came days before the opening of soccer's World Cup finals in Brazil, and police said the syndicate had accepted millions of dollars in illegal bets on each warm-up match.
"In terms of the seizure of betting records and cash, I would say it is the biggest-ever bookmaking syndicate in the city's history," said Superintendent Dan Ng Wai-hon, of the police organised crime and triad bureau.
Ng said the syndicate had taken in up to HK$500 million in a day in illegal bets, but he didn't elaborate on those transactions.