Skip to main content

World Cup highlights Asia’s illegal betting boom

By WTOP Staff

KELVIN CHAN
AP Business Writer

HONG KONG (AP) — As teams battle for football glory at the World Cup in Brazil, the biggest winners from the tournament may be illegal bookmakers in Asia.

Since kickoff, Chinese officer worker Chen has already wagered 2,000-3,000 yuan ($320-$480) through black market online bookies and plans to gamble more on big upcoming games.

Chen, who started betting on sports that also include NBA games four years ago, said that during the previous World Cup in South Africa he bet 115,000 yuan ($18,500) in a single day on three different games — a huge sum for the average Chinese — and lost about half of it.

“My friend helped me with betting on games through the Internet,” said Chen. “I’ll call my friend and transfer money to him and he would help me to deal with the rest.”

Chen, who lives in the southern city of Shenzhen, next to Hong Kong, would only give his surname because he didn’t want to get in trouble with authorities for betting illegally.

Demand for bets from Asian sports enthusiasts illustrates how the World Cup is also a huge bonanza for betting companies while focusing attention on the surge in illegal wagering in East Asia, where there are few legal options to accommodate the lucrative market.

“It is the biggest single gambling event of the decade and each World Cup gets bigger,” said Warwick Bartlett, CEO of Global Betting & Gaming Consultants, based on the Isle of Man. However, “the propensity to gamble in Asia is stronger than anywhere else on the planet, yet there are few legalized gambling opportunities.”

Government monopoly operators offer legal sports betting in a handful of Asian jurisdictions, including mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. The Philippines’ Cagayan province is home to 68 online gambling companies. It’s banned outright in many other countries, including India, Indonesia and Thailand. But thousands more illegal online bookmaking outfits, which don’t pay tax, are thriving because they offer better prices, odds, wider variety of bet types and credit. Asia accounts for just over half of the illegal bets placed worldwide, according to a recent report by a sports monitoring group.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club, the world’s second biggest betting operator, reported that betting turnover during the 2010 World Cup fell 1.6 percent compared with the 2006 event, which it blamed on growing use of illegal bookies.

Police forces in Asia are cracking down, swooping on a number of gambling rings in recent weeks. In May, Singapore police arrested 18 people suspected to be involved in an illegal football betting ring. They seized 1.4 million Singapore dollars ($1.1 million) in cash and uncovered records that showed the suspects received S$8 million ($6.3 million) in illegal bets in the prior two weeks.

Hong Kong police raided several gambling operations at the start of the tournament, including a cross-border operation with counterparts in mainland China to break up what they said was the city’s biggest ever gambling syndicate, arresting 29 people and seizing slips for about $100 million in bets on football and horse racing. Even Hong Kong’s prisons are tightening up prevention measures during the tournament by stepping up surprise inspections and cutting out any information on odds from newspapers and magazines given to prisoners.

In Thailand, where a business group estimates Thais will spend 43 billion baht ($1.3 billion) on illegal gambling during the World Cup, police have set up a gambling “suppression center” and arrested dozens of gamblers and bookmakers, according to a local news report.

The busts represent a fraction of the total. Wagers made outside licensed, regulated channels account for 80 percent of the 200 billion to 500 billion euros ($271 billion to $678 billion) bet globally on sports per year, according to a report released in May by the Qatar-based International Center for Sport Security.

It estimated that black market wagering is used to launder more than $140 billion in dirty money every year.

“Organized crime has moved into football because they have seen that this is a much easier way to make money than the traditional ways of racketeering, prostitution, drugs,” said Patrick Jay, director of trading at the Hong Kong Jockey Club. “They do this either by means of bookmaking … or they do it through the means of actually arranging results of football matches, what’s known as fixing football matches.”

Football match fixing has emerged as a major concern after the European Union’s police agency said last year that a review found nearly 700 suspicious matches around the world as well as evidence that a Singapore-based crime syndicate was involved in some of the rigging. Three books have also been recently released on the subject, including one by Wilson Raj Perumal, a Singaporean with ties to Asian and Eastern European gambling syndicates who was jailed in Finland for match-fixing.

However, Jay said chances are slim of World Cup game being fixed because fixers target games with low media and fan interest involving poorly paid players. He added that if fixers do try to target a game during the tournament, it would be one in which the result is not very important to either side.

“There’s no doubt the match fixers will look at those games. However, FIFA, EUFA and Interpol are all over this now. FIFA and Interpol are in the dressing rooms, they’re in the stadiums, their security people are in the hotels, they’re liaising with bookmakers, sports governing bodies, sponsors, security people,” he said.

___

Associated Press researcher Fu Ting in Shanghai contributed to this report.

___

Follow Kelvin Chan at twitter.com/chanman

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Don’t Settle for Student Loans to Pay for Online Education

By WTOP Staff
Online college programs are becoming a more popular choice for prospective students, with one study finding that more than 6 million students enrolled in at least one online course in fall 2015. The popularity of these courses can be attributed in part to their flexibility with working adults' schedules, students' ability to progress more quickly through online programs and, oftentimes, cheaper tuition. [See 10 low-cost online bachelor's programs for out-of-state students.]Online degrees can be beneficial to many college students, but some studies have shown online learners complete their programs at lower rates than students at traditional brick-and-mortar campuses. Individuals with student loans but no degree comprise two-thirds of defaulted borrowers. Though these numbers are not encouraging, just like for traditional programs, there are ways to reduce how much you'll need to borrow for an online program to ensure you won't become one of these statistics. Don't just settle on borrowing student loans to cover the whole cost of your program and living expenses. Instead, start thinking about how to cut costs and cover your balance in different ways, such as the following. -- Grants and scholarships: Even though you are taking an online course, you can still apply and receive grants and scholarships. But your first step should be to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, commonly referred to as the FAFSA, which will allow you to receive a Pell Grant if your expected family contribution is low enough. The EFC criteria and award amounts are adjusted annually, but the 2017-2018 academic year awards range from $606 to $5,920, which could significantly lower the amount you borrow annually. Your next step is to apply for scholarships. You can start by checking online scholarship search engines, such as the Salt Scholarship Search, College Board's BigFuture and Peterson's. But don't forget to take advantage of local organizations and your school's financial aid office. Both may offer scholarships that you can't find with a national scholarship search. [Review these 10 sites to kick off your scholarship search.]For instance, organizations like the Elks Club, Knights of Columbus or the Rotary Club typically offer scholarships annually to local students. Just because you're going to school online doesn't mean you're ineligible. Visit your local library for scholarship listings, and ask around town. You might be surprised how many local organizations offer scholarships. While these scholarships typically aren't large, every little bit counts. Each dollar you receive in a scholarship is a dollar you don't have to borrow and pay interest on. -- Work-study: Another option for online students may be work-study awards. Not all students enrolled in online programs are eligible, but students at some schools -- including, for example, SUNY Empire State College and Liberty University -- are. Work-study awards are not given upfront like scholarships and grants. In most cases, they are an offer to earn up to the awarded amount if you secure an eligible work-study job. While there is a misconception that all work-study jobs must be on campus, students can work for off-campus, nonprofit or public employers as long as the work is in the public's interest. You may be able to work for a for-profit employer if the job is relevant to your course of study. No matter who the outside employer is, it will need to have an established agreement with your college for you to receive work-study funds. Remember, to be eligible for federal financial aid, you must be enrolled and pursuing a degree or certificate. If you're not working toward a credential, Pell Grants and work-study won't be option, but you may still be able to take advantage of private scholarships -- just be sure to read the eligibility criteria carefully. [Explore what to know about financial aid in online programs.]-- Pay as you go: One of the great benefits to enrolling online is the flexible schedule, which can allow you to complete your college coursework around your responsibilities. But prospective students often overlook using their part- or full-time job earnings as an option for paying for college. Almost 80 percent of college students in 2015 worked at least part time while attending classes, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. By budgeting and thinking strategically about your college costs, you can likely reduce your dependence on student loans by paying a portion out of pocket. Many -- but not all -- online programs are less expensive than traditional programs and often have shorter payment periods. Six, eight or 10 weeks are common course durations. Because of the frequency of payments in an online setting, you may be well-placed to pay as you go and possibly avoid borrowing altogether. Attending college online and avoiding student loans may be challenging, but if you are willing to put in the effort, you can limit the amount you need to borrow. More from U.S. News Q&A: Understanding Student Loan Discharge Eligibility Student Loan Refinancing Isn't Right for All Borrowers
Read Next Story

Related Stories

Frustration grows in Venezuela as earthquake death toll reaches 1,430

Israel and Lebanon sign framework agreement with US in ‘first step’ toward peace, Rubio says

Trump-endorsed populist poised to become Colombia’s next president as rival challenges vote