Vietnam: 3 prison guards arrested for running online football gambling
According to the police, the prison guards made transactions totalling more than VND17bn ($684,000).
Vietnam.- Three prison guards have been arrested on suspicion of organising online football gambling. According to VN Express, one of the prison guards, Vu Tri Tuyen, began operating gambling accounts and then handed them over to prison officers Pham Minh Tien and Nguyen Dinh Tuan. He allegedly used two other accounts to gamble personally.
Police say that together the three prison guards made transactions totalling more than VND17bn ($684,000). Gambling in Vietnam is illegal outside a handful of venues and is punishable by a fine of between VND100m and VND50m (US$430 to US$2,150) and 3 to 7 years in prison.
Vietnamese citizens are only allowed to enter into two casinos: one on the southern island of Phu Quoc and the other in Van Don in the northern province of Quang Ninh.
In March last year, casino operators asked the government to expand Vietnamese citizens’ access to casinos in major tourist destinations such as Quang Nam and Ba Ria-Vung Tau to help casinos face the loss of revenue from tourists due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, authorities rejected the petition.
