A seedy Cambodian border town is revealed today as a key hub in the massive illegal betting industry that is fuelling what soccer officials say is a match-fixing "pandemic".
Poipet, a grimy gambling den near the Thai frontier that is stuffed with casinos, illegal betting shops and brothels, has emerged as the "Las Vegas" of southeast Asia's illegal gambling trade, now thought to be worth nearly £1 billion annually.
The role of Asian betting syndicates, who collude with corrupt players and officials, was highlighted in a Europol report two months ago that disclosed the scale of match-fixing now taking place around the world.
It revealed how hundreds of high-profile games, including Champions' League matches and World Cup qualifiers, are thought to have been rigged over the last four years, with nearly £2 million changing hands in bribes. Europol believes that many of the bets are placed via unregulated bookmakers in gambling centres like Poipet, who deal with both online and walk-in punters.
Only last week, a soccer referee and his two assistants were being questioned by Singapore corruption authorities over possible match-fixing ahead of an Asian Football Confederation Cup game. Full story...
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Poipet, a grimy gambling den near the Thai frontier that is stuffed with casinos, illegal betting shops and brothels, has emerged as the "Las Vegas" of southeast Asia's illegal gambling trade, now thought to be worth nearly £1 billion annually.
The role of Asian betting syndicates, who collude with corrupt players and officials, was highlighted in a Europol report two months ago that disclosed the scale of match-fixing now taking place around the world.
It revealed how hundreds of high-profile games, including Champions' League matches and World Cup qualifiers, are thought to have been rigged over the last four years, with nearly £2 million changing hands in bribes. Europol believes that many of the bets are placed via unregulated bookmakers in gambling centres like Poipet, who deal with both online and walk-in punters.
Only last week, a soccer referee and his two assistants were being questioned by Singapore corruption authorities over possible match-fixing ahead of an Asian Football Confederation Cup game. Full story...
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- Top European football matches 'fixed' (Video)
- Trailing Singapore's 'football match-fixing boss' (Video)
- All eyes on Singapore's betting underworld...
- Top European football matches 'fixed' (Video)
- Singapore Pools at centre of Italian soccer's match-fixing scandal...
- Singapore mastermind jailed in Finland for global match-fixing ...
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