Hong Kong sees huge increase in illegal betting during World Cup
Police seized more betting records in the past five weeks than in the previous four months, and half as much again as they did in all of 2013
Hong Kong police confiscated more than HK$350 million in illegal betting records during the World Cup - a nearly sevenfold increase from the amount seized during the first four months of this year.
About 100 locations were raided across the city in a month-long operation codenamed "Crowbeak", with 140 suspected illegal bookmakers arrested.
Officers seized more than HK$1.8 million in cash and 100 computers, along with mobile phones, televisions and account books.
The HK$350 million is in addition to HK$370 million in illegal betting records seized in Hong Kong when officers busted a cross-border gambling syndicate in a joint operation with mainland police on June 8, days before the World Cup kicked off in Brazil.
Mainland police at the time also seized betting slips worth 320 million yuan (HK$397 million) for soccer matches and horse racing from the syndicate's base in Guangdong.
"The value of the bets and the number of arrests [in the past five weeks] have exceeded those in the previous World Cup tournament," a senior police officer said.
He added that the operation was ongoing and more arrests were expected before the end of the final between Argentina and Germany in Rio de Janeiro early tomorrow morning.