Although illegal, betting on sports is becoming fairly common in Vietnam\’s urban areas, and the country\’s National Sports and Physical Training Committee is planning to submit to the government a scheme to launch a soccer betting service.
The committee said that legal soccer betting will partially fund the country\’s sports and help prevent rampant illegal betting.
Vietnamese police have recently uncovered several cases in which local bookmakers paid players to change the results of important matches, including an U-23 qualification match against Myanmar held in the Philippines in November 2005.
In separate news, the Beijing Youth Daily reported that overseas gambling has surged among Chinese new rich.
According to a businessman surnamed Tong, who lost gambling 40 per cent of his company\’s total profits last year, an online gambling service which allows players to monitor and bet on live games in Myanmar, has become popular among private Chinese entrepreneurs.
Since gambling in casinos is forbidden on the Chinese mainland, the police launched a nationwide crackdown on illegal gambling.
Only in the Zhejiang Province, the local Public Security Bureau closed nine agencies of overseas gambling websites and seized 95.75 million yuan ($11.8 million).
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