Chinese Police Bust Big Gambling Ring

Chinese police revealed on Thursday that they have conducted an illegal internet gambling raid on a crime ring that handled more than 70 billion yuan ($11.2 billion) in wagers since the beginning of the year.

A spokesman for the Shanghai Cyber Police said that the raid was the result of a three month investigation and resulted in the arrest of more than 50 suspects being arrested. 3 million yuan was also seized in the raid and more than 10 million yuan of player money was frozen as well.

Police claim that the ring worked with overseas websites to enable Chinese punters to bet on soccer games as well as online casino games.

The spokesman went on to say, "The ring has had a very bad effect on society. We have found office workers and university students who have gambled away all of their money, and even their parents' apartments."

Authorities were able to crack the case when they tracked a major player in the crime ring used an overseas website to manage the ring's account. "We found that the ring was using that website to manage its accounts. They had connections with more than 20 overseas gambling websites," the spokesman said.

Since August the Shanghai Cyber police have prosecuted 954 illegal online betting cases successfully which have involved nearly 1,800 people.