A Firm Base in Place
There is no denying that recent efforts to eliminate a vast majority of the
illegal gambling rings in Asia have been largely successful – a newly released
report from Interpol outlined the exact figures of the busts over the past
several months. Interpol and the Asian police taskforces collaborated and shared
information over the past several months as a way to solidify a working
relationship just in time for the 2008 Summer Olympic games in Beijing. The
information was culled from online casinos, intelligence communications, and
other sources and then shared between the Chinese police and Interpol.
According to Interpol’s official figures on the gambling busts across Asia, the
Asian police busted 1,088 illegal land and online casino gambling operations.
And from those gambling busts the police arrested roughly 1,300 individuals
associated with founding or operating the illegal gambling rings. Interpol’s
official report was released to international new outlets and included
additional information concerning the strategic timing of the gambling busts as
well as more information of the teamwork between Interpol and Asian authorities.
Interpol’s report actually reaffirmed the assertions that the Asian-Pacific
region has the potential for major gaming revenues if the governments liberalize
their online casino gambling policies. As for the timing of the gambling busts
over the past several months, Interpol noted that the police intentionally timed
the raids to coincide with a peak period of gambling and betting for the land
and online casino gambling industries – the 2008 European Football
Championships. The timing of the raids and the cooperation between agencies
proved successful and there is every chance that the agencies will continue to
jointly work at eliminating more illegal gambling rings up to and throughout the
Summer Olympics. |