AdvertisementAdvertisementVietnamese police arrested 85 people linked to two betting rings worth a combined US$133 million. (Photo: Facebook/Ho Chi Minh City Police)07 Jul 2026 02:22PM (Updated: 07 Jul 2026 02:29PM) Bookmark Bookmark WhatsApp Telegram Facebook Twitter Email LinkedInAdd CNA as a trusted source to help Google better understand and surface our content in search results.Read a summary of this article on FAST.Get bite-sized news via a newcards interface. Give it a try.Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FASTFAST HANOI, Vietnam: Vietnamese police said Tuesday (Jul 7) they had arrested 85 people linked to two "exceptionally large-scale" betting rings worth a combined US$133 million, as the government cracks down on illegal gambling during the World Cup.Online gambling is banned in the communist country, but lucrative illegal operations abound prompting periodic clampdowns especially during international sporting events.The raids in late June targeted two rings with an "exceptionally large scale of operation" and a "high level of hierarchy and tight control", police in Ho Chi Minh City said in a statement.Since October, the rings had logged an estimated US$133 million in illegal transactions, the statement said.Show MoreShow LessLeaders of the rings confessed to receiving "master-level betting accounts from individuals in Cambodia ... subdividing these accounts into numerous agent and member accounts to distribute to gamblers" online, it added.Vietnam's public security ministry said last week police had dismantled 73 gambling operations across the country, arresting 346 suspects involved in illegal gambling and football betting during the first 20 days of the World Cup."Transaction money in these cases totalled thousands of billions of dong (hundreds of millions of dollars)", said Colonel Bui Tuan Anh of the public security ministry.Canada, Mexico and the United States are hosting World Cup matches this year, with the final match slated for Jul 19.How far will you go to support your team’s World Cup dream? | InteractiveSource: AFP/coNewsletterMorning BriefSubscribe to CNA’s Morning BriefAn automated curation of our top stories to start your day.Sign up for our newslettersGet our pick of top stories and thought-provoking articles in your inboxSubscribe hereGet the CNA appStay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best storiesDownload hereGet WhatsApp alertsJoin our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat appJoin hereAlso worth readingContent is loading...Expand to read the full storyGet bite-sized news via a newcards interface. Give it a try.Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FASTFAST