Taiwan Busts Record Illegal Gambling Ring Worth Close to $1B

Taiwan has busted the largest illegal gambling ring tied to money laundering to date, which supposedly generated $975 million in revenue. The operation built custom payment options that enabled players to place wagers on unlicensed platforms all over East Asia.

Taiwan-Based Gambling Ring Busted by Prosecutors

The activity was based on a local business owner, a person identified only as Lo in reports, who ran a diner and used it as a front while really operating the multi-million-dollar illicit business. 

Lo kicked off the operation at some point in 2020, and started by obtaining the source code of a payment platform, which then spanned two independent iterations – MatchPlay and HeroPay. 

Both solutions made it possible to transact money to and supposedly from gambling websites, while ensuring that normal payment safeguards tied to illegal gambling would not work and thus facilitate the activity. 

However, Lo was not satisfied simply with running payment services for websites, and pushed ahead with a project of his own – a dedicated online gambling website, Rich 11. This website and the payment providers processed the $975 million aforementioned.

Lo is alleged ot have had an accomplice, a woman who was in charge of financial transactions, identified only as Huang. Prosecutors have indicted 35 people in total connected to the large-scale illegal gambling ring, and are currently asking for at least nine years and six months of prison time for Lo alone. 

Lo used his proceeds from the illegal gambling operation to invest back into it, as well as expand his food business, opening another eatery. Huang is facing six years in prison if prosecutors deliver. 

At the same time, the investigators are moving to seize all illegally acquired funds from both people identified as the ringleaders.