Asia round-up: Vietnam halts gambling ring; Entain legal dispute & Zhihui suspended

Ministers from Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security have stopped an online gambling ring that made an alleged VN$30trn (US$1.2bn) from bets over three years.

Asia Vietnam min

Police raided 15 locations in Ho Chi Minh City and its neighbouring Dong Nai Province, arresting 14 people who will now be investigated for gambling and organising gambling operations.  

Local media reports that an initial police investigation found the syndicate was partly run by Vietnamese people living in Cambodia, while seven of the organisation’s managers were based in Ho Chi Minh City.  

These managers allegedly supervised betting accounts while managing a gambling network spread over many cities and provinces.  

Websites the illegal gambling operator ran were Sobet, Bong88 and SV2. These sites ran betting for football, cockfighting (e-sabong) and lottery games.  

After three years of operations, the gambling ring had received bets totalling VN$30trn. 

Gambling is mostly illegal in Vietnam, with only certain locations running foreign-player-only casino operations.  

These gambling raids are common during World Cup seasons, according to local media. Just last week, an online football betting ring in Vietnam worth VN$1trn was busted in northern Vietnam, only a few days before the start of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. 

Tabcorp launches legal action against Entain over pub deals in NSW 

Tabcorp has initiated legal action against Entain and the NSW (New South Wales) division of the Australian Hotels Association.   

Australian gambling company Tabcorp has launched action against Entain over its alleged failure to disclose sufficient information about a recent advertising deal in NSW.   

Proceedings were launched in an NSW Supreme Court on the evening of 21 November, after Tabcorp sought preliminary information from Entain and NSW pubs by writing to the two over concerns their deal risked contravening the Unlawful Gambling Act of 1998.   

Tabcorp has an exclusive agreement to operate gaming at NSW pubs and clubs due to a state licence extended by the group from 2013 to 2033.   

However, Entain recently signed a deal with NSW hotels to enable pubs to advertise Entain brands Ladbrokes and Neds – a deal which supposedly doesn’t breach the exclusivity agreement between Tabcorp and NSW pubs and clubs.    

Both Ladbrokes and Neds are rival operators of Tabcorp.    

Tabcorp, though, alleges Entain and the NSW Hotels Association have not provided it with sufficient information on the advertising deal. 

It’s this lack of information that prompted Tabcorp to launch legal proceedings, says the operator.    

Substantive proceedings initiated by Tabcorp would involve making claims for damages or an injunction against Entain and the NSW Hotels Association.  

Landing International suspends Chairman Yang Zhihui 

The operator of South Korea’s Jeju Shinwa World, Landing International Development, has suspended its Executive Director and Chairman Yang Zhihui after legal proceedings were launched against him. 

Legal proceedings have been launched by the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong (SFC) in relation to another company where Yang is also Chairman. 

The company in question, Teamway International Group, is alleged to have conducted unfairly prejudicial business matters which were against the interests of its employees. 

In particular, Yang has been accused of breaching his fiduciary duties in relation to several transactions and failing to disclose transactions to the Teamway company. 

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