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BEIJING: Police in China on Thursday pledged to crack down on gambling syndicates and online betting during the World Cup, as part of the country's ongoing efforts to rid the Internet of illicit wagering.
"The World Cup is about to begin and already overseas gambling syndicates are clamouring and infiltrating our nation through the Internet," said Ding Renren, a police spokesman in eastern China's Zhejiang province.
"Police organs will strengthen monitoring of the Internet and we are encouraging football fans to watch the matches, not bet on them," he said in comments posted on the provincial government's website.
China's national side failed to qualify for the tournament in South Africa, leaving fans deeply disappointed in a game which has been wracked by gambling, match-fixing and crooked referees in the professional league for years.
Gambling has been outlawed in China since the Communist Party came to power in 1949, but that has not stopped a thriving underground industry.
Up to 500 billion yuan (73 billion dollars) was spent on online gambling in China in 2006, the last time the World Cup was held, the Titan Sports Daily reported earlier this year.
But since the head of the Chinese Football Association, Nan Yong, was sacked and arrested for corruption earlier this year, Chinese police and football officials have vowed to crack down on what they called a "cancer" in the sport.
In Zhejiang, police have arrested 344 suspects and frozen suspected gambling funds amounting to 50 million yuan so far this year, Ding said.
The province has set up numerous hotlines urging people to report any suspect Internet gambling.
Other areas in China are also cracking down ahead of Friday's kick-off.
"During the period of the World Cup, once we have evidence confirming that people or groups are using World Cup matches to illegally gamble, then police will strike hard," said a police notice in the southern city of Foshan.
In the southern province of Hainan, police said this week they had arrested 76 people and frozen 20 million yuan in gambling funds since a nationwide crackdown on online betting began in February, China News Service said.
- AFP/de
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