Interpol trumpets success in combatting Asia’s illegal Euro 2016 sports betting

Global police agency Interpol is celebrating its successes in deterring illegal sports betting in Asian countries during the Euro 2016 football tournament.

In a statement released Monday, Interpol claims that its two Euro 2016 anti-gambling operations SOGA and Aces resulted in the arrest of over 4,100 individuals and the seizure of $13.6m in illegal wagering proceeds.

Operation SOGA VI (short for soccer gambling) involved police in China, France, Greece, Italy, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The operation made nearly 4k raids on illegal gambling dens that broke up rings believed to have handled $649m worth of Euro 2016 wagers.

The Aces operation – which focused on illegal online and telephone wagering operations in Cambodia, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines – resulted in 33 arrests. Three illegal betting sites were shut down in Thailand, while Malaysian authorities arrested 15 individuals for payment card fraud.