Former national basketball team player Chien Chia-hung (簡嘉宏) was among 18 people taken into custody on Friday when police raided an alleged illegal gambling den at a residential building in New Taipei City’s Yonghe District (永和).
Chien was among 15 alleged gamblers apprehended during the raid, along with the three alleged proprietors of the establishment, which was running Texas hold’em poker and mahjong games in which people allegedly placed bets with money and poker chips.
Yonghe District Police Precinct officials said they confiscated poker chips valued at NT$8 million (US$238,799), bank drafts and checks valued at NT$2 million and NT$700,000 in cash.
Chien was playing poker, had exchanged NT$90,000 cash for poker chips and had lost about NT$50,000, police quoted him as saying.
Chien, 28, retired last year after playing for 10 years in the Super Basketball League.
He played center and was a key member of the powerhouse Pure Youth Construction team, which won the league championship title for four consecutive years between 2012 and last year.
He was a member of the Chinese Taipei national squad from 2010 to 2012.
A female croupier surnamed Liu (劉), 25, who was among those arrested, has received a lot of media attention, as she was allegedly hired by the proprietors to attract male clients to the establishment.
Police said Liu, along with the proprietor and a female accountant, are expected to be charged with gambling and related offenses.
The 15 gamblers violated the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), were fined NT$3,000 and then released, officials said.
Pure Youth team manager Chang Cheng-chung (張承中) said he was surprised to hear about Chien’s alleged involvement in illegal gambling.
“If players who have contracts with Pure Youth are found gambling we would cancel their contract. We would also sue for damages to the team,” Chang said yesterday.
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