ADVERTISEMENT
  • The Membership Club
  • PT Hausa
  • About Us
  • Advert Rates
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
Thursday, April 15, 2021
Premium Times Nigeria
  • Home
  • COVID-19
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Opinion
  • Health
    • News Reports
    • Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Health Specials
    • Features
    • Events
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Research & Innovation
    • Data & Infographics
    • Special Reports/Features
    • Investigations
    • Interviews
    • Markets
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects
    • Parliament Watch
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • AGAHRIN
  • Home
  • COVID-19
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Opinion
  • Health
    • News Reports
    • Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Health Specials
    • Features
    • Events
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Research & Innovation
    • Data & Infographics
    • Special Reports/Features
    • Investigations
    • Interviews
    • Markets
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects
    • Parliament Watch
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • AGAHRIN
Premium Times Nigeria
BUA Group Ad BUA Group Ad BUA Group Ad
ADVERTISEMENT
World Cup: Authorities across Asia gear up to fight illegal gambling operators

World Cup: Authorities across Asia gear up to fight illegal gambling operators

byAgency Report
June 11, 2018
2 min read

Law enforcement and regulatory forces in Asia say they are gearing up to fight illegal gambling operators who have ramped up activities in the region ahead of the World Cup, making use of savvy technology and cryptocurrencies to evade prosecution.

NAN reports that the 2018 FIFA World Cup opens on Thursday in Russia.

It will be the 21st quadrennial international football event.

Gambling industry experts said illegal gambling on the cup is prevalent in countries like Thailand and Malaysia, where football is hugely popular, but which don’t have legal betting alternatives.

Even in South Korea and the Chinese territory of Hong Kong – where betting is legal under registered bodies – illegal gambling on average dwarfs the legal market, they say.

The experts said illegal bookmakers have shifted to online and mobile platforms, which offer a wider range of betting options than legal vendors, making it harder for enforcement agencies to police.

Hong Kong and Macau police have said crime syndicates have often used platforms like WeChat to place bets.

Online payment providers and cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin have also made it easier for illegal operators to facilitate illegal bets, according to Interpol, and the Hong Kong Jockey Club, which runs Hong Kong’s horse racing and football betting franchise.

“There is a need to develop and execute a sustainable enforcement strategy for a lasting impact against illegal betting and related transnational organized crime,” said Martin Purbrick, the club’s director of security and integrity.

RelatedNews

Naira gains at official market

Food prices highest in Rivers, Niger, Gombe in March

Nigeria inflation hits 18.17% amid high food prices

Macron lauds Rabiu as BUA, Axens make progress on Akwa Ibom refinery

The Jockey Club estimates Hong Kong’s illegal betting turnover this year, including the World Cup, will be at least $68 billion, compared to 6.5 billion dollars in Singapore and 79 billion dollars in South Korea annually.

Hong Kong earns around five per cent of its budget from taxing legal gambling and views illegal betting as lost potential revenue.

The Jockey Club put the potential loss at about 1.7 billion dollars in the year.

Dangote adbanner 728x90_2 (1)

The club said illegal bookmakers in Hong Kong are expected to reap 750 million dollars during the World Cup alone.

Illegal betting this year is expected to be far larger than during the 2014 World Cup held in Brazil, helped by the closer time zones between Russia and countries in the Asia region, according to gambling industry executives.

Asia accounts for 80 percent of the estimated 500 billion dollars in illegal betting volumes globally, according to Transparency International and the Asian Racing Federation.

Much of the illegal betting is facilitated by companies registered offshore, particularly in the Philippines, which sells online betting licenses to operators.

While operators can claim to be licensed in the Philippines, their sites are illegal in most jurisdictions in Asia, including Hong Kong and South Korea.

Since 2016, Philippine authorities have clamped down on illegal betting operators but there has still been a proliferation in the number of sites in operation, according to officials and executives in the country.

ADVERTISEMENT

Alfredo Lim, president of PAGCOR, the Philippine gaming regulator, said the bureau was collaborating with government agencies to fight illegal gambling.

“We lose millions from unlawful gambling,” Mr Lim said.

In South Korea, police said they would closely monitor illegal sports betting during the World Cup. Hong Kong police said they were conducting a large anti-gambling operation called “Crowbreak” to crack down on illegal gambling activities.

Macau, the world’s biggest gambling center, is expected to see revenues squeezed in June due to more Chinese gamblers wagering on the World Cup than in the enclave’s glitzy casinos, according to gaming analysts.

Police in China broke up a large illegal online gambling ring in April, arresting more than 100 people, the Xinhua news agency reported, while Macau police have broken up illegal betting operations conducted via the popular WeChat app.

At the last World Cup in 2014, Interpol said during a six-week operation across China, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam, law enforcement officers cracked crime gangs estimated to have handled around 2.2 billion dollars worth of bets, mainly through illicit websites.

(Reuters/NAN)

  • WhatsApp
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print
  • Telegram
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Pocket

Support PREMIUM TIMES' journalism of integrity and credibility

Good journalism costs a lot of money. Yet only good journalism can ensure the possibility of a good society, an accountable democracy, and a transparent government.

For continued free access to the best investigative journalism in the country we ask you to consider making a modest support to this noble endeavour.

By contributing to PREMIUM TIMES, you are helping to sustain a journalism of relevance and ensuring it remains free and available to all.

Donate


TEXT AD: To advertise here . Call Willie +2347088095401...


JOIN THE CONVERSATION

  • Disqus (0)
premiumtimes



PT Mag Campaign AD

Previous Post

APC Convention: Over 170 members vying for NWC position – Official

Next Post

Top entertainment stories from last week

Agency Report

Agency Report

More News

Prince Philip [Photo Credit: Daily Express]

British PM, opposition leader pay tribute to Prince Philip

April 12, 2021
Prince Philip [Photo Credit: BBC]

Prince Philip’s funeral to be held on April 17 – Buckingham Palace

April 11, 2021
Gun salutes to mark death of Prince Philip

Gun salutes to mark death of Prince Philip

April 10, 2021
Vladimir Putin [PHOTO CREDIT: @KremlinRussia_E]

Putin signs law that could keep him in office until 2036

April 9, 2021
Erna Solberg, Norwegian PM [Photo: The Independent]

Norway Prime Minister fined by police for breaching coronavirus rules

April 9, 2021
United States Capitol. [PHOTO CREDIT: The Washington Post]

U.S. Capitol attacked again

April 3, 2021
Next Post
Top entertainment stories from last week

Top entertainment stories from last week

Suicide bomber kills one in Borno

Discussion about this post

Search

#EndSARS: Latest Updates




Polaris Bank


JAIZ Ad


Explore Akwa Ibom Ad


Explore Akwa Ibom Ad


Access Bank Ad


NITDA Ad





Glo Ad

Subscribe to News via Email

Enter your email address and receive notifications of news by email.

Join 1,651,625 other subscribers.

Advertisement






netherland biz school Advert



Zenith Advert

ADVERTISEMENT

Our Digital Network

  • PT Hausa
  • Election Centre
  • Human Trafficking Investigation
  • Centre for Investigative Journalism
  • National Conference
  • Press Attack Tracker
  • PT Academy
  • Dubawa
  • LeaksNG
  • Campus Reporter

Resources

  • Oil & Gas Facts
  • List of Universities in Nigeria
  • LIST: Federal Unity Colleges in Nigeria
  • NYSC Orientation Camps in Nigeria
  • Nigeria’s Federal/States’ Budgets since 2005
  • Malabu Scandal Thread
  • World Cup 2018
  • Panama Papers Game
  • Our Digital Network
  • About Us
  • Resources
  • Projects
  • Data & Infographics
  • DONATE

All content is Copyrighted © 2020 The Premium Times, Nigeria

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • COVID-19
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Research & Innovation
    • Data & Infographics
    • Special Reports/Features
    • Investigations
    • Interviews
    • Markets
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • Parliament Watch
    • AGAHRIN
  • Opinion
  • PT Hausa
  • The Membership Club
  • Dubawa
    • Dubawa NG
  • About Us
    • Advert Rates
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
  • Digital Store
  • DONATE

All content is Copyrighted © 2020 The Premium Times, Nigeria

Our website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.