Beijing, July 12 (IANS): As many as 108 suspects were arrested in China for football gambling during the ongoing 2014 FIFA World Cup tournament, the ministry of public security (MPS) said Saturday.
Over 18 billion yuan ($2.88 billion) were involved in the gambling, Xinhua reported citing MPS as saying.
Police found an overseas gambling website which organised gambling activities in China and was developing Chinese agents since May this year.
The football gambling section of the website has been found to be popular during the World Cup, the MPS said.
On July 4, police from eight provinces raided the agent organisations in China of the cross-border gambling website, arresting 17 suspects, confiscating and freezing more than 30 million yuan.
Investigations found that the server of the gambling website is based in the Philippines.
The gang behind the website was found to have made illegal gains of over 200 million yuan through exacting commissions and "super membership" fees.