HANOI, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Vietnamese police have detected an online betting ring which has operated across Vietnam since 2015 with total transactions worth some 88 million U.S. dollars, the country's Hi-tech Crime Police Department said on Sunday.
On Saturday, 14 police working groups simultaneously raided many houses in capital Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and southern Dong Nai province, detained several local people, and seized relevant documents, three cars, and over 10 billion Vietnamese dong (440,000 U.S. dollars) and 21,000 U.S. dollars in the form of cash and deposit books.
The detainees have been accused of running or gambling on an illegal betting website with its servers being located in the Philippines. Since 2015, thousands of Vietnamese people have opened bank accounts totaling some 2,000 billion Vietnamese dong (88 million U.S. dollars) to make bets through the website.
At present, all forms of gambling, including sport betting, except in government licensed casinos, are illegal in Vietnam. Anyone found to be in violation of the law is subject to heavy fines and/or a severe prison sentence.
