A nationwide campaign has broken up 249
internet-based gambling rings and arrested more than 760 suspects
since being launched in January.
Police in the capital have broken up eight online rings,
including one with stakes reaching a total of 235 million yuan
(US$28 million) and involving suspects Jia Dong and Yang Yi.
Police in north China's Hebei
Province have arrested Liu Wenqing, Xu Yang and Huang Jian,
agents for overseas-based gambling websites in China, who arranged
Internet gambling? with monthly transactions of more than 10
million yuan (US$1.2 million).
Police in the Inner
Mongolia Autonomous Region and northeast China's Jilin
Province have both arrested agents for overseas websites and
confiscated computers for gambling.
Police in Guangzhou have confiscated 1.01 million yuan
(US$120,000) from gamblers.
The crackdown has targeted senior officials and executives at
state-owned companies as part of a larger fight against widespread
corruption.
(Xinhua News Agency February 4, 2005)