Huge Illegal Gambling Ring Busted In Hong Kong

Hong Kong police say they have shutdown the biggest betting and gambling ring in over a decade with the raid on a suburb in the city.

According to reports the Triad controlled gang took as much as HK$3.4 billion (US$438 million) in the first four months of the year and some single bets reaching hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Almost all the bets were focussed on horse racing and football the police said they arrested 16 men and two women. Police said that the operation to close down the illegal betting syndicate had taken several months and was made more difficult because all the bets were made in cash and all records were hand written.

Chief Inspector Hui Hong-kit of the organised crime bureau said: “Our investigation revealed that the syndicate had been in operation for about a year.”

Seventy plus bank accounts were also frozen following the raid as law enforcement officials believe they are connected to proceeds of crime.

One police officer was quoted as saying: “The amount of a single bet reached as high as hundreds of thousands of dollars and the gang took 0.5% of each bet laid as commission.”