Chinese authorities have broken up a major illegal online gambling ring, arresting over one hundred suspects in two major operations.

On Thursday, the state-run Xinhua media outlet reported that police in the populous southern province of Guangdong had arrested over 140 suspects, froze bank accounts containing RMB85m (US$13.4m) in funds and seized property worth an additional RMB130m in their targeting of an illegal online casino ring.

Police in the city of Jiangmen reportedly received their initial tip-off about the online gambling ring last October. Their subsequent investigation indicated that the ring operated six online casino websites and had agents on the ground in 12 cities in Guangdong, as well as three cities in the adjacent Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Police staged their first raids on March 12, netting over 110 suspects. A follow-up raid on April 2 resulted in the detention of another 30 suspects. China is expected to ramp up its targeting of online gambling sites, particularly online sportsbooks, ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup kickoff in June.