China busts yet another illegal online gambling operation

Police in China’s southern Guangdong province have broken up yet another major online gambling ring.

On Thursday, the state-run Xinhua media outlet announced that the Shenzhen public security bureau had rumbled an illegal gambling operation in a series of raids in the cities of Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Jieyang. The raids occurred on March 20, but the details are only now coming to light.

Over 150 suspects, including the five alleged ringleaders, were detained in the raids, after the public security bureau of Jieyang City launched an investigation in February. Police also seized computers, bank cards and other gambling paraphernalia.

Police claimed the ring had nearly 2k agents and promoters responsible for collecting cash from and paying out winnings to the ring’s roughly 50k registered punters. The ring reportedly operated numerous gambling sites and generated estimated profits of over RMB400m (US$62.7m) before police kicked in the doors.