Eswatini police detained 88 foreign nationals during a raid at a Mbabane hotel over a suspected online gambling and fraud operation. Police said investigators were examining seized devices to establish whether the activity involved gambling or wider internet fraud; no charges had been filed.
Operators face heightened enforcement scrutiny while police investigate alleged unregulated gambling activity.
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Macau’s Judiciary Police detained two mainland Chinese men suspected of helping an off-site bettor place proxy bets through a livestream of electronic baccarat at a Cotai casino. Police said one man allegedly placed wagers using RMB18,000 transferred in advance, and the pair were referred to prosecutors over suspected illegal operation of online games of chance.
Ethiopian authorities detained 24 people linked to sports betting companies in an investigation into alleged concealment of more than Br100 billion in income. The National Intelligence and Security Service led the operation with support from the Financial Security Service and federal police; those arrested are connected to former licensees, unauthorised operators and people allegedly running online betting platforms.
Istanbul police detained 68 people in an investigation into alleged money laundering linked to illegal betting and gambling. Authorities said investigators traced more than TRY76.2bn across over 100,000 transactions and suspected that some funds were converted to USDT and moved to cryptocurrency wallets; the suspects remain under investigation.
Police in Ho Chi Minh City said 85 people were detained after raids in late June targeting two illegal betting networks. Investigators estimated the networks had processed about $133m in wagers since at least October, with betting accounts traced to Cambodia. Separately, Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security said officers had dismantled 73 gambling operations and arrested 346 people during the World Cup’s first 20 days.
Kuala Lumpur police detained 1,156 people in 868 raids between 1 January and 23 June, according to police reports. The operations included 22 raids targeting World Cup 2026 bookmaking, in which police chief Fadil Marsus said 24 people were detained; investigations remain ongoing.