Police arrest 116 in northern Vietnam gambling den

Police raided a private home and arrested 116 gamblers in the northern Vietnamese province of Hung Yen, authorities said Thursday October 19.

Authorities seized five cars, 31 motorbikes, 12 mobile phones and VND470 million dong (US$30,000) in the raid on Wednesday night in Hung Yen, 50 kilometers east of Hanoi.
The owner of the home and suspected organizer of the gambling den, Nguyen Ngoc Hung, 45, escaped and police are searching for him, said Bui Ngoc Phi, head of the social crime investigation department of Hung Yen province. 

When police arrived, the gamblers were found while playing "xoc dia", an even-odd dice throwing game. 

"The gamblers include 30 women, many of whom are also prostitutes," Phi said. "We don’t know yet how many of them are state officials." 

According to the policeman, the prostitutes were there also to serve unlucky gamblers who wanted to get rid of bad luck. 

"This is the largest gambling case that has ever been busted in Hung Yen province," Phi said. "They all will be charged with gambling." 

Vietnamese law calls for prison terms of up to seven years for illegal gambling, which is considered a “social ill” in the country. 

Earlier this year, an illegal football-betting scheme run by state officials was found to have diverted several million dollars in state funds into betting on European matches. 

(Thanh Nien News, October 19, 2006)