Chinese operator on trial over $60 billion gambling case

A Chinese suspect named only by his surname Zhou stands trial for a cross-border online gambling case involving over $60 billion. The case is reported to be the biggest ever prosecution for operating illegal gambling in the world.

Just in 4 years, since online gambling site called games998.net was set up in 2012, they attracted more than 2 million registered Chinese gamblers and turned over $60 billion.

Initially the site was operated out of eastern China, however the following year it was moved to Vietnam in order to avoid detection by police.

Zhou and his partners who are not named in the prosecution papers say that Chinese players exchanged real money into online credits to participate in dozens of gambling games, such as Mahjong, poker and casino games.

Prosecutors claim the website made around $75 million in profits during the period of 4 years.

However, the ringleader Zhou was arrested this year under an international arrest warrant and returned from Vietnam to China.

Eight of Zhou’s accomplices were sentenced in an earlier case, but several of those involved in the operation are still at large.

Gambling is illegal in China, except in state-sanctioned lotteries.