Society

Illegal soccer gambling nets $14.6B each year

By Zuo Likun (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-02-01 15:07
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Underground football gambling in China nets about 1 trillion yuan (US$14.65 billion) annually, according to a leading football figure cited by the Jinghua Times.

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Casino owners also pocket a 10 percent cut of the illicit fund thought to be a staggering 100 billion yuan (US$1.46 billion), Zhang Lu, deputy chairman of Beijing Guo'an football club, said at a forum in Beijing on Sunday,

He urged the passage of a lottery bill as one of the many measures to tackle rampant underground gambling.

The latest disclosure comes at a time when the Chinese Super League (CSL) is already embattled in bribery and match-fixing scandals, with three top soccer officials held in a crackdown.
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