The Chinese authorities have announced that they have uncovered an ‘illegal’ online gambling network and arrested 11 people that were linked to the case, including the chief initiator, known only as Li.
From a statement issued by the public security bureau in the city of Hangzhou, the network generated over $70 million in a pyramid scheme that linked Chinese gamblers with a live casino in the Philippines.
Li was approached by a Philippine-based group in Macau which gave him the tools to begin the operation in China. “Li provided a convenient but illegal platform for wealthy businessmen who wanted to gamble in Xiaoshan," an authority spokesperson. "Otherwise they had to travel all the way to Macau to do so.”
Li apparently issued a public apology for his role in the network and said: “The whole thing started as a joke, but the joke went too far. I was not short of money, I was just being greedy.”