EURO football betting warning

Busting many "huge" betting lines

The Ministry of Public Security has just issued a warning, advising people not to participate in betting or organize football betting in any form, especially when the European Football Championship (EURO) 2024 is taking place.

According to the Ministry of Public Security, the 2024 European Football Championship (EURO) taking place from June 15 to July 15, 2024, is a sporting event that attracts a large number of fans around the world and Vietnam.

This is also the condition for football betting crimes to operate more complicatedly, especially football betting in cyberspace.

A recent example (June 20), Hai Chau District Police in coordination with the Department of Cyber ​​Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention (Da Nang City Police), the Department of Cyber ​​Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention (Ministry of Public Security) discovered and arrested a group of subjects in Da Nang who were colluding with subjects in Ho Chi Minh City to organize gambling and gamble in the form of football betting on websites with the domain names www.viva6889.com and www.sporty88.com.

The police agency determined that in addition to the 3 ringleaders residing in Da Nang, there were 12 other related subjects; seized evidence included nearly 240 million VND in cash, savings books, 12 mobile phones of various types, 3 laptops of various types, 1 desktop computer, 2 iPads, 3 diaries, 2 football schedules, and more than 1 billion VND in the accounts of the subjects.

At the time of arrest, the subjects admitted to organizing betting on domestic and foreign football tournaments (including the Euro 2024 group stage) with a transaction and betting value of about 8 million USD (more than 160 billion VND) per month.

During the investigation, the police recorded about 83,000 bets on the accounts of the subjects with the total transaction value of the website estimated at over 1,000 billion VND.

In Nghe An, recently, the professional authorities have used synchronous professional and technical measures to detect and strictly handle subjects organizing and participating in gambling in the form of football betting.

Typically, in June 2023, the Vinh City Police Investigation Agency initiated a case and prosecuted 9 defendants for organizing gambling and gambling in the form of football betting.

This is a large online gambling ring in the form of football betting in Nghe An province led by Gian Tu Cong (born in 1991), residing in Ha Huy Tap ward, Vinh city, currently living in Ho Chi Minh City.

All gambling transactions of this group were conducted online via smartphones. Gian Tu Cong used the general manager account to organize gambling in the form of football betting on the website "bong88.com”with some other subjects inside and outside the province.

After applying professional measures to fight, Vinh City Police successfully broke the case, arrested Gian Tu Cong and 8 other subjects, including 5 subjects residing in Vinh City: Pham Quang Manh (born in 1991), Nguyen Minh Tai (born in 1992) residing in Ben Thuy Ward; Nguyen Van Tai (born in 2000) residing in Nghi Kim Commune, Nguyen Xuan Danh (born in 2001) residing in Hung Loc Commune, Nguyen Huu Duc (born in 1993) residing in Le Mao Ward and 3 subjects: Dang Khac Duy (born in 1989) residing in Giang Son Dong Commune, Do Luong District, Le Van Son (born in 1982) residing in Ky Son Commune, Tan Ky District and Nguyen Van Le (born in 1983) residing in Xuan Lam Commune, Hung Nguyen District.

The seized exhibits included 10 mobile phones, along with other exhibits related to the case. Authorities proved that the amount of money the subjects had transacted gambling in the form of football betting from April 2023 to the time of arrest was more than 80 billion VND.

The Ministry of Public Security said: Through the reality of fighting and handling crimes related to football betting, it shows that: Football betting crimes have taken full advantage of the development of science and technology, operating in a complex manner, diverse in form and scale: from spontaneous, simple, small-scale to lines and gangs organized in cyberspace operating inter-provincially and transnationally.

There is a football betting line formed by the leaders of professional gambling organizations in connection with subjects, bookmakers managing betting websites, with servers located abroad to set up small branches for football betting organizations on cyberspace in Vietnam, with many forms of advertising, attractive public invitations in Vietnamese. Players only need to have devices connected to the Internet, register for a membership account, open a personal account at a bank to be able to participate in betting.

In particular, many players are given gambling accounts and passwords along with an advance virtual amount of money to bet. If they lose and do not have money to pay, these subjects may use coercive measures to pay such as: illegal detention, extortion of property or hiring criminals to collect debts...

This is the cause of many other crimes and law violations such as: black credit, fraud, robbery, property theft... threatening the peaceful life of the people.

Nbe vigilantpreventbetting

Currently, the 2024 European Football Championship (EURO) is a sporting event that attracts a large number of fans.

To proactively prevent and combat gambling crimes in the form of football betting on cyberspace, the Ministry of Public Security recommends:

Each citizen should be fully aware of the good entertainment values ​​of football, watch football with a healthy entertainment mentality; do not participate in football betting, organize football betting in any form. Pay attention to managing, educating, and mobilizing relatives and people around to raise vigilance, stay away from football betting. In case of detecting suspicious subjects related to football betting, promptly report to the nearest police agency for reception and resolution. The police also recommend that football betting is an illegal act that will be strictly handled.

According to Dr. Lawyer Nguyen Trong Hai - Director of Trong Hai and Associates Law Firm: Football betting is the act of using money or other assets to bet on the outcome of an upcoming or ongoing football match that has not ended or has not yet had a final result.

Football betting can be done in many different forms, such as: Direct betting at casinos, bookmakers; Betting via the Internet; Betting via phone... Football betting is also a form of gambling.

Football betting participants may be prosecuted for criminal liability. Specifically, according to Article 321 of the 2015 Penal Code, amended and supplemented in 2017, which stipulates the crime of gambling, illegal football betting participants who bet with money or objects of VND 5 million or more or less than VND 5 million in the following cases may be prosecuted for criminal liability for the crime of gambling.gambling

+ Has been administratively punished for gambling or organizing gambling.

+Convicted of gambling or organizing gambling or gambling but not yet had the criminal record cleared and still commits the violation.

A person prosecuted for gambling may be sentenced to non-custodial reform for up to 03 years or to imprisonment from 06 months to 07 years. In addition, the offender may also be fined from 10,000,000 VND to 50,000,000 VND.

Therefore, people need to be more vigilant and say "No" to football betting to avoid breaking the law.

"Football betting is also a form of gambling. Pursuant to Article 321 of the 2015 Penal Code, amended in 2017, which stipulates the crime of gambling, people who participate in football betting can be prosecuted."

(PhD, Lawyer Nguyen Trong Hai - Director of Trong Hai and Associates Law Firm)

The Ministry of Public Security also requested press and media agencies to actively participate in propaganda and warnings to raise awareness and vigilance among the people; coordinate in detecting crimes and violations of the law related to football betting, contributing to ensuring social order, safety and peaceful life, especially during the EURO 2024 season.