Macau police last night smashed a multimillion-dollar World Cup betting racket run by a Hong Kong triad gang. Nine people were arrested. Police raided two flats on the island of Taipa at 9pm, netting seven suspects. In the raids, officers seized computers and an estimated $100 million in soccer betting slips. Two women thought to be connected to the syndicate were arrested later. Macau police said the syndicate was controlled by a Hong Kong triad gang and took bets mainly from Hong Kong and mainland residents. Of those arrested, one, who is a Hong Kong resident, was thought to be the ringleader. The others were mainlanders. Macau police said the Hong Kong triad faction that ran the syndicate arrived at the end of last year and the syndicate had been operating for more than three months. In similar raids on Thursday, six Hong Kong and Macau residents, including one who was 15, were arrested for operating two gambling rings. About $13 million in soccer betting slips were seized. The action by Macau police was part of a joint effort with their Hong Kong and Guangdong counterparts to combat an anticipated rise in illegal soccer gambling during the World Cup. On Tuesday, Hong Kong police raided a flat in Sha Tin and seized about $12 million in betting slips - the biggest bookmaking operation uncovered in the city since the tournament began on June 9. Earlier this month, Chief Superintendent Choy Kin-cheung, of the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau, warned that illegal bookmakers and the people who laid bets with them would face prosecution.