Sports Betting Scam Exposed as Chinese Officials Jailed

There seems to be no stop in game-fixing in Asia. Recently scams were uncovered in South Korea and Japan as previously reported by gambling news. Now, Chinese sports officials were involved in another scandal involving influencing matches.

Sports betting is mostly illegal as prescribed by Chinese gambling laws, while game-fixing carries further penalties.

Many football punters know that often a football team has a 12th player in the form of a referee. On top of it, if the referee gives a red card for the slightest reason to the opposing team, it’s more like 12 vs.10 players on each side, giving the less preferred team no chance of winning unless they’re Barcelona or Manchester United.

Four Chinese football arbiters were caught for pursuing this unreasonable procedure and doing it for real money that involved sports bets placed on the outcome of the games they were responsible for judging. Lu Jun, one of the men, was sentenced to over 5 years in prison and had his property confiscated for accepting well over $100,000 to fix the games and make his behind the curtains people win the high stakes sports bets placed.

The other referees are facing multi-year prison sentences as well. The behavior of the referees on the field during the football matches was so scandalous that even those who know little about the game knew that it is fixed.

While the fans whistled and screamed in opposition, the men shamelessly continued with the Muppet show to get paid for payouts on illegal bets placed. It came to the point that the unduly penalized teams started walking off the fields during the matches and attracted the attention of the Chinese gambling law enforcement officials.

Since, as this story shows, it is risky to bet on sports in China, mainland punters have been searching for expanded betting opportunities elsewhere.

As there are many reputable online sports books that offer wagering opportunities on a wide selection of sports, Chinese punters are increasingly seeking places to bet on real sport games and not on lame circus shows? (Of course being Chinese they would love to be able to bet on both).