Sixty-eight people in south China's Guangdong province have been sentenced to jail terms of up to nine years in the country's largest online gambling case that generated USD 78 billion in illegal bets.
The gambling ring illegally opened online casinos and attracted bets valued at 484 billion yuan (USD 78 billion) from March 2008 to April 2013, the Liwan district people's court in the provincial capital Guangzhou said in a statement.
The court yesterday ordered the 68 to pay fines ranging from 50,000 yuan to 20 million yuan.
Of the total convicted, 55 were found guilty of opening online casinos, seven guilty of gambling and six guilty of both crimes, according to the statement.
The online betting ring operated via gambling websites, including Huangguan and Yongligao, with servers outside China.
They used the websites to lure gamblers to place bets and took commissions from them.
According to prosecutors, the ring was run within a circle of friends and relatives like a pyramid-selling scheme.
Among the accused were several white collar workers, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Gambling has been outlawed on the Chinese mainland since 1949, but in recent years, sports events such as the World Cup have proved too tempting for betting fans.
