Police in Taoyuan said they have raided an illegal gambling ring that took bets on the result of next month’s presidential election, and detained four people for questioning.
Seized material suggests that the ring had total money flow of NT$250 million (US$8.3 million), they said.
A 53-year-old man surnamed Chen (陳), who is suspected of masterminding the ring, remained in police custody, they added.
Photo: Lee Jung-ping, Taipei Times
Chen had three employees and offered odds for people to bet on the number of votes President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) would get in the Jan. 11 elections, police said.
Tsai is seeking re-election, while Han is the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) candidate.
“The raid was carried out at a location in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音) on Friday, in which computers, mobile phones, fax machines, ledgers, receipts and NT$20,000 in cash were seized,” Taoyuan Police Department Jhongli Police Station Chief Liu Yin-kong (劉印宮) said.
The suspects face charges of conducting illegal gambling activities under the Criminal Code, and breaches of the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), Liu said.
Underground betting on election results is known to have affected election results in one-on-one races, Liu said.
Operators can entice people to bet on a certain candidate by offering favorable odds, which can skew the odds toward a higher payout, and is therefore considered a form of illegal vote-buying, Liu added.
In Chen’s case, people placed bets by telephone, fax or the Line messaging app, and each bet was set at NT$50,000, Liu said, adding that bidders used code words to bet on Tsai or Han.
Law enforcement agencies nationwide have been instructed to crack down on illegal betting on the election results and cut off such operations’ money flow, Liu added.
The authorities have promised to clean up such activities and prevent underground criminal syndicates from interfering in the election’s outcome, Liu said.
Separately, the Criminal Investigation Bureau last week said that from Dec. 10 to 13, it raided 24 illegal operations allowing people to bet on the election’s outcome, and arrested 30 people.
The arrests were part of an investigation into 694 cases of all forms of gambling nationwide.
Bureau officials said they seized NT$36.88 million during the raids.
Cases of illegal gambling on election outcomes are prosecuted under Article 104 of the act, which stipulates a punishment of up to five years in prison for “anyone who disseminates rumors or spreads falsehoods by text, picture, audio tape, video tape, speech or any other method” that results in a candidate losing or winning an election.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it is closely monitoring developments in Venezuela, and would continue to cooperate with democratic allies and work together for regional and global security, stability, and prosperity. The remarks came after the US on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was later flown to New York along with his wife. The pair face US charges related to drug trafficking and alleged cooperation with gangs designated as terrorist organizations. Maduro has denied the allegations. The ministry said that it is closely monitoring the political and economic situation
UNRELENTING: China attempted cyberattacks on Taiwan’s critical infrastructure 2.63 million times per day last year, up from 1.23 million in 2023, the NSB said China’s cyberarmy has long engaged in cyberattacks against Taiwan’s critical infrastructure, employing diverse and evolving tactics, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday, adding that cyberattacks on critical energy infrastructure last year increased 10-fold compared with the previous year. The NSB yesterday released a report titled Analysis on China’s Cyber Threats to Taiwan’s Critical Infrastructure in 2025, outlining the number of cyberattacks, major tactics and hacker groups. Taiwan’s national intelligence community identified a large number of cybersecurity incidents last year, the bureau said in a statement. China’s cyberarmy last year launched an average of 2.63 million intrusion attempts per day targeting Taiwan’s critical
‘SLICING METHOD’: In the event of a blockade, the China Coast Guard would intercept Taiwanese ships while its navy would seek to deter foreign intervention China’s military drills around Taiwan this week signaled potential strategies to cut the nation off from energy supplies and foreign military assistance, a US think tank report said. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted what it called “Justice Mission 2025” exercises from Monday to Tuesday in five maritime zones and airspace around Taiwan, calling them a warning to “Taiwanese independence” forces. In a report released on Wednesday, the Institute for the Study of War said the exercises effectively simulated blocking shipping routes to major port cities, including Kaohsiung, Keelung and Hualien. Taiwan would be highly vulnerable under such a blockade, because it
UNDER WAY: The contract for advanced sensor systems would be fulfilled in Florida, and is expected to be completed by June 2031, the Pentagon said Lockheed Martin has been given a contract involving foreign military sales to Taiwan to meet what Washington calls “an urgent operational need” of Taiwan’s air force, the Pentagon said on Wednesday. The contract has a ceiling value of US$328.5 million, with US$157.3 million in foreign military sales funds obligated at the time of award, the Pentagon said in a statement. “This contract provides for the procurement and delivery of 55 Infrared Search and Track Legion Enhanced Sensor Pods, processors, pod containers and processor containers required to meet the urgent operational need of the Taiwan air force,” it said. The contract’s work would be
RSS