Football betting is an illegal act in most Asian countries, and despite that it is sentenced with harsh communist punishments such as life sentencing and death, the online industry seams to have soared over the past few years.
Only this week a Vietnamese court jailed a football betting ring of about 15-20 members, who have been operating since December 2005 and have made profits reaching the $10 million mark. According to anonymous court officials, this is the largest recorded amount ever taken to trial in Vietnam. The ring leader, Ngo Tien Dung, received a 10 year jail sentence over his illegal actions. Luckily, this was the harshest of all the punishments handed out.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian government has been no less forgiving to breaches of illegal football betting. Police in Johor Baru, Malaysia, today arrested an illegal football betting syndicate that had gambled approximately RM15 million a month online, over EUFA and Champions League matches.
Aged in his 40's, the man was caught in a bungalow using computers, modems and printers, and has been under police surveillance for 7 days. SAC II Amer explained that on days when there are matches, football betting can turn in millions of "ringgit", which is very successful for the CID. Other people involved in the case are still on the run.
SAC II Amer further elaborated that since January 1st of 2008, Malaysia has already achieved 410 arrests over illegal football betting, and confiscated more than 2,700 machines used for football betting syndicates.
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