Court Upholds Online Gambling Conviction In China

Tam Chi-wai had it all figured out. he was running a successful online gambling business that was taking in millions of dollars in profits. The only problem was what Chi-wai was doing was illegal under Chinese law.

Back in June, Chi-wai was convicted of running an illegal gambling house. He was sentenced to eight years in jail. He appealed the ruling, but this week he lost that appeal and now will serve the eight year sentence.

Chi-Wai set up his operation in Myanmar back in 1999. He then worked for several years building his online empire. Many people were employed through the operation. There were website managers, maintenance people, and others who simply opened bank accounts to stash the money they were making.

In all, over 3,000 people worked as part of the illegal operation. Chi-wai had computer servers in several different areas. Guangzhou and Dongguan in the Southern Guangdong Province were two of the locations that were used.

In addition to the jail sentence Chi-wai was also ordered to pay a $2.9 million fine. Of the websites that he ran, one of them registered over 5,000 new users between the period of August 2006 and March 2007.

It is illegal under China law to set up a gambling house or gambling party. The Intermediate People's Court in Kunming was the first to convict Chi-wai. This week, the provincial high court upheld that ruling.

November 20, 2008
Posted By Tom Jones
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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