Sentencing for gambling ring worth hundreds of billions via 188bet

After nearly 10 days of trial and deliberation, on the afternoon of September 1, the first instance trial of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court on the case of gambling via the 188bet website ended with the verdict.

Accordingly, for the group of crimes of "organizing gambling", the court sentenced the mastermind defendant Vuong Chan Thanh (born in 1976, living in Ward 6, District 6, Ho Chi Minh City) to 8 years in prison. The other 2 defendants, Thanh's younger brother and brother-in-law, Vuong Thuy Hang (born in 1978, living in Ward 6, District 6), and Dam Kim Khuyen (born in 1979, living in Ward 6, District 6) were sentenced to the same 6-year prison sentence.

The group of three defendants charged with “illegal business” were Do Tu Truong, sentenced to 20 months in prison, Lai Sieu Na to 18 months in prison, and Nguyen Thi Bien to 2 years in prison.

Defendants in the multi-billion gambling ring

Of the remaining 58 defendants brought to trial for the crime of "gambling", 8 were declared exempt from criminal liability, however, each of these 8 defendants had to pay a fine of 30-50 million VND; the remaining 50 defendants were sentenced to 2 suspended prison sentences and imprisonment from 6 months to 3 years.

The verdict also ordered the confiscation of 51 thousand USD and 199 million VND from Vuong Chan Thanh and his wife. The verdict also ordered the additional fine of 50 million VND for defendant Vuong Thuy Hang. In addition, the verdict also ordered many other defendants to pay 5-50 million VND to the State budget.

According to the verdict, the 188bet website specializes in organizing gambling in many forms in fields such as football, basketball, tennis, online card games... with a server located in the Philippines. In addition to many other languages, this website also has Vietnamese content.

During the period from October 2011 to October 2013, as the mastermind, Vuong Chan Thanh colluded with foreigners to participate in the above gambling ring. Then Thanh, along with Dam Kim Khuyen, Vuong Thuy Hang and asking relatives and employees of Vien Tin Company (a company established by Thanh), opened a total of 55 accounts as a means of transaction between 188bet and gamblers.

In the case, Vuong Chan Thanh, Dam Kim Khuyen, Vuong Thuy Hang, and Nguyen Thanh Trieu received the transfer of more than 195.2 billion VND, thereby benefiting hundreds of millions of VND. The subjects also coordinated with Nguyen Thi Bien through foreigners to exchange Vietnamese currency into foreign currency to transfer to China.

According to Capital Security