Police in Macau, Hong Kong and mainland China are stepping up enforcement action against illegal football betting as the World Cup approaches.

The Hong Kong Standard newspaper reported that the special administrative district and Guangdong police have launched a month-long crackdown on illegal soccer gambling.

The 2014 Brazil World Cup will begin on June 12 with the final match on July 13.

Casino revenues in Macau fell 20% month-on-month in June 2010, as some financial analysts said the World Cup kept some gamblers away from game tables and slot machines.

Casino gambling revenue fell to 13.6 billion MOPs ($1.7 billion) in June 2010 from 17.1 billion MOPs in May. It rose to 16.3 billion MOPs in July.

In July 2010, Deutsche Bank analyst Karen Tang wrote that Macau’s gambling industry will continue to be hit by “the temporary softness of VIP games as the World Cup nears its final stage.”

“We expect market growth to resume sequentially in August, traditionally the summer travel season,” she wrote in a note to clients at the time.

Illegal bets on World Cup matches typically surge across Asia during tournaments. Despite the generally increased risk of arrest, the rewards of increased betting amounts are appealing to organizers.

Police in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and China, including Macau and Hong Kong, arrested more than 5,000 people during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, according to Interpol.

In July 2010, the International Police Agency said in a statement that police had raided more than 800 illegal gambling sites across the Asia-Pacific region, and were believed to have processed more than $155 million in bets.

BY: 동행복권파워볼