Press Digest - Local punters estimated to have placed bets amounting to RM100m

PETALING JAYA: Malaysian punters are estimated to have placed not less than RM100 million in bets on group matches in the first two weeks of the on-going European football championship (Euro 2016).
As of last Saturday, police had rounded up 102 bookies and members of illegal bookmaking syndicates in 231 "Ops Soga VI" raids conducted nationwide, China Press reported today.
Police discovered that bets placed with these bookies alone amounted to RM29,773,928.
They believed those arrested were only the tip of the iceberg.
With the ease of betting provided by the digital, or new media, age where wagering can be done with just the press of a few buttons or several clicks by the punters, police believe that many people are betting online, which makes detection tough.
Bukit Aman secret societies gambling and vice division (D7) principal assistant director Senior Asst Comm Datuk Roslee Chik told the vernacular daily that based on experience, the amount betted will become significantly higher as the championship edges to a close.
He said the 102 people picked up for accepting bets include four women.
Roslee said because the betting was carried out online where all money for transactions was channelled through bank accounts, police recovered only RM140,986, S$5,789 (RM17,367), HK$114,414 (RM60,000) apart from mobile phones and tablet computers during the raids.
Roslee disclosed the majority of the bookies were picked up in Johor, with 27, followed by 17 in Kuala Lumpur and 13 in Penang.
He said police are investigating them under the Betting Act 1953, Anti-Money Laundering and Ant-Terrorism Financing Act 2001, Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 and the Prevention of Crime Act 1959.
He said in the last World Cup football championship, as much as RM400 million in bets was believed to have changed hands.