In what is thought to be the biggest-ever case of its kind in China, a Hong Kong resident has been imprisoned for eight years and fined nearly $3,000,000 after being found guilty of running an online gambling network illegally.
Gambling in China is widely popular, but illegal outside of state lotteries. Tam Chi-wai, a Hong Kong resident, set up a gambling house in 1999 and started to develop an online betting network.
Tam Chi-Wai's online network saw nearly $2,000,000,000 wagered before it was shut down. "’More than 3,000 people used to work for Tam’s gambling network,’ a Chinese news agency said. "Some employees managed websites while others took charge of maintaining the betting network. Other members held hundreds of different bank accounts to hide illicit earnings."