China Jails 20 in US$1
billion Online Gambling Case
 February
16 - On Sunday last week, the Shanghai Putuo District People's
Court in China jailed 20 people accused and convicted of being
involved in an
illegal online gambling operation
- the biggest to date in the country - that is thought to have
generated revenues in excess of $1 billion.
The online
gambling operation's ringleader,
41-year-old Qian Baochun, was sentenced to six years in prison
as well as fined five million yuan ($735,000) for his role in
launching the operation during the 2006 FIFA World Cup in
Germany, by opening accounts on foreign gaming websites.
Online gambling is currently illegal in the
People's Republic of China.
The 19 other accused received prison sentences ranging from 1 to
5 years, coupled with fines from 20,000 yuan to one million yuan.
They included Zou Jun and Liu Biqing, the other two gang leaders
of the operation.
Said court spokesperson, Zhang Minxian, 'This is the country's
biggest online gambling case.' During the case, the court was
told how Qian, Zou and Liu opened accounts on several overseas
online gambling websites
and began to build up a comprehensive network of agents and
gamblers.
As the online operation grew in size, they hired more people to
work for them and received monthly commission from the foreign
websites they were signed up with. The trio reportedly earned
1.6 million yuan
from wagers between the second half of 2006 and July 2007.
All 20 involved in the operation were lucky that they avoided a
firing squad.
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