 NO JOKE!: HK police smash illegal insect-fight gambling syndicate
Channelnewsasia.com
Date : 21 Sep 2004 1136 hrs (GMT + 8hrs)
HONG KONG : Hong Kong police smashed the second illegal insect-fighting gambling ring in a month when they arrested 43 people for betting on battles between pet crickets, officers said on Tuesday.
The men, aged between 48 and 73, were arrested in a swoop on the same Kowloon district building where 115 people were arrested in mid-August for gambling on cricket fights.
In the latest raid, police seized 167 crickets stored in small bamboo cages. Some HK$2,260 (US$290) in cash was also confiscated.
Cricket fighting is a traditional Chinese pastime that dates back to the Tang dynasty of 618-907 and had long been mainly practiced by aristocrats, senior officials and wealthy merchants.
In recent years, as Hong Kong's obsession with gambling has surged, punters have turned to betting on animal fights, including insects, dogs and chickens.
Traders of battling insects spend hours training them to fight.
A champion cricket can cost up to US$20,000 even though prize money rarely exceeds a couple of thousand dollars. - AFP
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09-21-2004, 08:01 PM
