Ring leader Le Canh Bao (white) at the police station. — VNA/VNS Photo

At a press conference on Tuesday, police said that 45 people had been arrested for their alleged involvement in the ring, of whom 29 were said to be the organisers while 16 were gamblers.

Ha Tinh Criminal Police Division first caught wind of two football betting rings named G18 and RQ22 in October 2018. Local police decided to initiate collaboration with forces from the Ministry of Public Security and colleagues in Khanh Hoa, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen and HCM City after initial investigations showed that the rings stretched over several localities.

Police soon identified 42-year-old Pham Hai as the leader of the G18 ring while Ho Xuan Dat, 28, managed RQ22. However, it turned out that they were both involved in a bigger gambling ring under top boss 43-year-old Le Canh Bao.

All three lived in Nha Trang City, Khanh Hoa Province.

Dat and Hai ran the rings via b88ag.com, bong88.com and cuocbanh88.com. They created 1,001 accounts for high and low-level administrators and 565 accounts for gamblers in Ha Tinh, Khanh Hoa, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen and HCM City.

Ha Tinh police on May 26 carried out a raid and arrested 11 suspects before the arrests of Bao, Hai and Dat five days later.

The police said the online betting rings started operating in October 2018. Each ring had an average transactions worth VND500 billion each month, making the total amount gambled ratchet up to VND3 trillion. VNS