Asia
Hong Kong police cracks down gambling dens arrests 48 persons
![Hong Kong police cracks down gambling dens arrests 48 persons](https://europeangaming.eu/portal/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/gambling-den.jpg)
Hong Kong police has detained 48 persons, including gamblers and sex workers, following a three-month-long crackdown process targeting a suspected gambling den in the city.
The police officials also seised HK$25,500 (US$3,200) and four arcade game machines, along with two accounting books.
The 18 men and four women, aged 25–56, were picked up when officers raided two residential units on King’s Road and Chun Yeung Street in North Point that was used as gambling dens.
Police said two of the male suspects, aged 28 and 36, were arrested on suspicion of operating the betting establishments while the others were arrested for gambling. They were being held for questioning.
In Hong Kong, operating a gambling establishment carries a maximum penalty of seven years in jail and a HK$5 million fine. Gambling in an illegal establishment carries a maximum penalty of nine months in jail and a HK$30,000 fine.
Separately, 26 female visitors from mainland China were rounded up in an anti-vice operation jointly mounted by police and immigration officers in Yau Ma Tei on Tuesday. The women were arrested in brothels and hotel rooms on Temple Street, Shanghai Street, Portland Street, Reclamation Street, Jordan Road and Nathan Road when the raids began at about 4 pm on Tuesday.
The raids in North Point and Yau Ma Tei were part of a three-month operation code-named “Thunderbolt 18”, which ended on Wednesday.
In the first two months of the operation, police arrested more than 3000 people, seised HK$220 million in betting records, illicit goods and illegal drugs, and closed down more than 3000 illegal gambling dens, drug distribution centres, vice establishments and unlicensed pubs across the city.
The operation was carried out in tandem with an annual cross-border “clean-up” against organised crime syndicates and triad activities and was led by police from the city, Guangdong province and Macau.
On the first day of the operation, officers from the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau arrested two elderly sisters suspected of running a prostitution ring out of their Mid-Levels home. Police seised HK$10 million in cash inside the flat.
In June, police in Hong Kong and Shenzhen arrested 50 people and confiscated HK$77.7 million in betting records in their joint operation targeting a cross-border bookmaking syndicate during the World Cup.
Last month, police arrested more than 100 people in connection with gold-trading scams in which attractive, sweet-talking female brokers as well as male brokers posing as women were used to coax clients into making investments. Police said there were more than 160 victims in one of the cases, resulting in HK$100 million in total losses.
Source: scmp.com
Asia
PAGCOR BRAVES FLOODS TO HELP DISASTER-HIT COMMUNITIES
![](https://europeangaming.eu/portal/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/PAGCOR-BRAVES-FLOODS-TO-HELP-DISASTER-HIT-COMMUNITIES_20240726_120712_0000.png)
At the height of the downpour and massive flooding in Metro Manila and nearby provinces Wednesday, volunteer teams from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) started bringing relief packs to affected communities.
Classes and government work were suspended on Wednesday and Thursday due to the widespread flooding, but PAGCOR volunteers went into action nevertheless.
“Even at the height of the flooding, and even before the President ordered government agencies to provide assistance to affected communities, PAGCOR employees already went to action to help those in need,” PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Alejandro H. Tengco said.
The PAGCOR chief said that since July 24, the agency has delivered more than 21,000 food and non-food relief packs for thousands of affected families.
“After the heavy rains subsided and it was safe to do so, we started bringing immediate aid to flooded communities in Caloocan City on Wednesday, followed by relief operations in Valenzuela, Malabon and Malolos, Bulacan the next day,” he said.
Mr. Tengco added that PAGCOR was scheduled to distribute relief goods to the cities of Marikina and Navotas on Friday as well as to affected towns in Bulacan like Calumpit and Bulakan which were all submerged in floodwater.
“It has been second nature to PAGCOR to immediately respond to the needs of affected communities in times of disasters,” he said.
“We understand that while it is part of our mandate to contribute to nation-building, it is also our moral obligation to help ease the plight of Filipinos in times when they need help the most,” the PAGCOR chief added.
He said PAGCOR’s relief operations are ongoing, with more employees volunteering to help repack relief goods Saturday and Sunday in the agency’s warehouse in Imus, Cavite to support distribution efforts in the coming days in Bataan, Batangas and Cavite.
Asia
AGTech Wins Lottery Terminal Supply Tenders for Shaanxi, Zhejiang and Jiangsu Provinces
![](https://europeangaming.eu/portal/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/4-9.jpg)
Lottery and integrated technology and services company AGTech Holdings Limited (AGTech) has announced that one of its wholly-owned subsidiaries has successfully won procurement tenders to supply lottery terminals to Sports Lottery Administration Centres in Shaanxi province, Zhejiang province and Jiangsu province of the People’s Republic of China.
AGTech already has previous success in the China market, having won a bid in 2018 for supplying its new dual, touchscreen lottery terminals to the Chinese provinces of Guizhou, Shanghai and Hebei.
Even before this, AGTech introduced new instant win games, launched in partnership with Chinese logistics firm SF Holdings across Shenzen, Nanchang, Changsha and Nanjing.
Asia
Philippine President Marcos Announces Ban on POGOs
![](https://europeangaming.eu/portal/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/2-8.jpg)
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has banned the establishment of any new Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), also known as Internet Gaming Licensees (IGLs), with immediate effect. Existing POGO operators will have until the end of the year to wind down their operations.
The verdict, not entirely unexpected, was delivered during his State of the Nation Address in Manila on Monday following widespread pressure from a Senate investigation into illegal POGO-linked activities.
“Effective today, all POGOs are banned. I hereby instruct [gaming regulator] PAGCOR to wind down and cease the operations of POGOs by the end of the year,” Marcos said in his SONA.
The decision to shut down POGOs follows a series of recent raids on illegal POGO compounds in Pampanga and Tarlac amid allegations they had been engaging in human trafficking and scam activities.
A full ban, proposed by multiple senators, had also gained the support of the Department of Finance (DOF) and the National Economic and Development Authority.
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