Mainland's largest-ever gambling ring on trial

Thirty-two agents who placed bets in the mainland's largest ever gambling ring went on trial Thursday in Liaoning province, the South China Morning Post reported. The case involved up to US$770 million in online bets, commonly made on overseas sporting events. Police said only half of the more than 100 agents that joined the group were caught, including Yang Xu and his wife Wang Jun, who allegedly set up the illegal gambling websites in 2005. The couple used several agents to build their organization into a pyramid-selling structure, reaping profits through commission from organizers and attracting wealthy gamblers or agents' friends and relatives to open accounts on the website. Last year, the group took bets amounting to US$360 million, charging US$32,467 in commission.