A group of information technology (IT) engineers behind the operation of three Taiwan-based gambling Web sites, who had handled transactions totaling NT$4.76 billion (US$148.86 million), have been convicted by the New Taipei District Court on gambling charges.
The five IT engineers were headed by a man surnamed Chan (詹), a National Taiwan University (NTU) graduate and founder of a new high-tech company, who got fellow NTU graduates to develop apps and engage in the online gambling business, the ruling said.
All five were convicted of contravening the Criminal Code by “making profit by furnishing a place or assembling people to gamble.”
Photo: Chen Wei-tzu, Taipei Times
Chan was sentenced to six months in prison and required to pay a NT$150,000 fine.
Three were given five-month sentences, with three years probation.
Another defendant who was considered a principal figure, surnamed Huang (黃), was handed a six-month sentence and ordered to pay a fine of NT$90,000.
Huang has to serve the prison term, since he has previous criminal convictions, the ruling said.
Evidence showed that Chan set up online gambling Web sites based in Taipei and New Taipei City, supervised the Web sites’ design and operations, hired and paid for IT staff, and managed the daily gambling and casino games.
The other three IT engineers were responsible for registering the Web sites, doing regular test runs, graphic design and formatting for the Web sites, setting up an online platform and wallets for money storage and transactions for clients, investigators said.
Evidence showed that Huang held the regional operating rights for IWIN gaming and registered a company to run the payment service via a third party, enabling gamblers to store money through a virtual account.
These gambling Web sites mainly offer games where customers play and bet money, such as slot machines, baccarat, poker and other card games.
When customers win money, they can request to receive their winnings, which would be paid out to their account through a third-party payment platform, investigators said.
Judges said they handed suspended sentences to the four main figures, because they had admitted to the offenses and had no previous criminal record.
Illegal profits from Chan and Huang, worth NT$1.5 million and NT$500,000 respectively, were also seized. All five were ordered to pay fines.
The investigation found that the gambling operation had generated combined betting and money transactions of more than NT$4.76 billion since it began operations in 2021.
“All five suspects have the skills and training backgrounds to earn a regular living, but they chose to work together to run a gambling business and earn profits by enticing people to gamble... Their work promoted gambling, reaping financial gains by playing chance games, which led to more unethical behavior and deteriorating social conditions,” the judges said in their ruling.
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS