The police in Taiwan have seized more than US$300 million (S$388 million) in World Cup bets after busting an illegal online betting ring, the authorities said on Thursday, July 2.
Taiwan did not qualify for the World Cup, but many people on the sporting-mad island are football fans.
The police raided a house in the southern city of Tainan on July 1, Tainan City Police Department’s Fourth Precinct said in a statement. They arrested eight people and seized computers, mobile phones, ledgers and cash, the statement added.
Five of the eight people had travelled from Hong Kong and Macau on tourist visas for the World Cup betting operation.
The outfit had allegedly raked in nearly NT$10 billion (S$405 million) in bets on World Cup matches, the police said.
They had rented the five-storey house for the period of the tournament. AFP