Over 20 board members of popular Chinese betting website VPGame have reportedly been arrested or held for questioning following a raid by the police in January 2021 under suspicions of illegal gambling activities.
The police are continuing their investigation on whether VPGame is in violation of China’s strict anti-gambling laws while the company’s associated bank accounts have been frozen for the time being.
What is VPGame?
For the unaware, VPGame is one of the biggest betting websites on the internet right now. Owned by LGD Gaming, it allows users to bet on various esports titles through virtual currency. This currency can be obtained by trading CSGO or Dota 2 skins, which apparently have no real value and therefore doesn’t directly violate any laws.
However, the ‘P-coins’ of VPGame, which is the platform’s primary virtual currency, can be exchanged for real currency. This can potentially go against the Chinese laws and has reportedly led to an investigation by the police.
While not much is known about the consequences of the raid, we do know that VPGame’s bank accounts have been frozen, which in turn has put a halt on the employees’ salaries. The website itself has also been shut down on February 26th as a result of the investigation.
There have also been reports on LGD Gaming CEO Pan “RuRu” Jie being arrested on suspicion of illegal activities, but none of then have been confirmed as of yet.
Source: Invenglobal
