All language subtitles for Asias Underworld s01e07 Illegal Gamblers.eng

Money.

Greed.

And the lure of winning big.

The World Lottery Association estimates
that the illegal gambling market...

...is worth 90 billion US dollars
annually.

And Asia accounts for most of it.

You can bet on almost anything
from pigeons to sports...

...and few escape the trap
of gambling addiction.

This billion-dollar shadow economy
is run by criminal organizations,

driving society into moral decline,
destroying families, and at worst, lives.

Gambling has long been considered
one of the ills of society.

An activity that authorities worldwide
have sought to control, if not eradicate.

Across Asia gambling laws
are strictly enforced...

...but millions still flout the law
and gambling addiction is widepsread.

Seemingly innocent games of chance...

...easily turn ordinary people
into pathological gamblers...

...whose lives become consumed
by a single obsession,

winning the jackpot.

But gambling today is no longer
confined to casinos and race tracks.

The internet has become
the front line of illegal betting,

where money can easily change
hands at the touch of a button.

For more than two years,

23-year-old Tan
has been an online bookie...

...for an illegal gambling
website in Taiwan,

taking bets on just about anything.

The website makes it easy
for gamblers to place their bets,

and allows criminal bookies
to keep track of countless wagers.

Money is passed between the gamblers
and the website managers...

...by bank transfers,
or by hand when possible,

to avoid leaving any incriminating trace.

For the owners of the illegal business,

these underground activities
can be highly profitable.

We collect or give out the winnings

at the end of every week

after we calculate the amounts.

For example, if this week that person won

then we'll deliver cash to him.

The website is set up outside of Taiwan,
to avoid detection from authorities.

The shady online bookies
take every precaution...

...to make sure they stay
one step ahead of the cops.

Identities of new clients...

...are checked thoroughly before
they're given an account number...

...and password to use the website.

For some, entering
into the realm of illegal gambling...

...can be the first step
into the violent underworld of crime,

where morality takes
a back seat to money.

The trend of pathological gamblers
is that society...

...is beginning to realise now
that there are these group of people...

...who get hooked onto gambling...

...to such an extent
that they cannot break free.

When you do not get what you are
looking for in your gambling,

it can have tragic outcomes.

For example, you may resort to violence.

In the Taiwanese capital of Taipei,
on the 12th of September 2011,

a 20-year-old owner of an illegal gambling
business was brutally murdered.

Jiang Qingming, was hit by a car,
dealt a brutal blow to the head,

and was then stabbed 10 times
by one of his clients, a gambling addict.

Jiang's body was later discovered
in the trunk of his own car.

Incredibly, the killer posts
a confession on Facebook.

Just two days later,

police track down Huang Jingchi
and arrest him.

Officers are stunned to confront
a seasoned gambling addict aged just 17.

Further interrogation revealed...

...that the murder
was viciously pre-meditated.

Huang described the crime
to his interrogators in detail.

It all began with a simple bet
on a baseball match.

Teenager Huang loses the bet,

and owes his bookie,
Jiang, 330 US dollars.

Jiang takes his car
to meet the young man,

and demands payment.

The deceased had an argument
with the suspect.

Jiang said in the car,
"Do you have the money?"

Trapped in a debt he could not repay,

Huang claimed
that he feared for his life,

and had no other choice
but to kill Jiang.

Huang's case is currently in the courts.

If his plea of self defence fails,

Huang is too young to be given
the death penalty,

but still faces a minimum
of 10 years in jail.

The murder is a grisly reminder...

...of the deadly consequences
of gambling addiction...

...but it also sheds light
on a disturbing regional trend.

In some of the youth surveys
in Singapore and in Hong Kong,

we found that the rates
of pathological gambling...

...or problem gambling among youths...

...would be twice
that of the adult population.

That means something
between seven to eight percent.

There is mounting evidence that
the billion-dollar gambling industry...

...is targeting a younger
generation like Huang.

In Asia, gamblers under the age of 18...

...are two to three times
more likely to become addicted.

The hard facts are frightening.

The vast demand
for illegal betting in Asia...

...is now the lifeblood
of major criminal networks.

Empowered by huge profits,

these syndicates are not afraid
to seek out new markets.

The Taiwanese mafia
has now turned its attention...

to the nation's favourite competitions,

buying professional athletes...

...and fixing matches
for million-dollar payoffs.

In Taiwan, where virtually
all forms of gambling are illegal,

a betting underworld
is in full operation.

Obsessive gamblers
can bet on almost anything.

Pigeon racing is a uniquely
Taiwanese hobby.

Specially trained pigeons are registered
with racing associations for major events.

The pigeons are then taken aboard ships,

and brought out to sea,

where the race starts,
and the cages are opened.

The birds are trained to find their way
back to land along a specific route,

flying over sea and mountains,
to a designated finish line.

Although modest prize money
is given to the winner,

behind the scenes,
this humble national pastime...

...has become the source
of one of the biggest...

...illegal money-making
activities in Taiwan.

Thousands of huge illegal bets
are placed on the races.

But these are no ordinary pigeons.

They are the elite of the avian world...

...and certain birds
with a history of winning races,

can rise dramatically in value.

These champion birds
can be sold at auctions...

...for up to a mind boggling
100,000 US Dollars or more.

Criminals have come up with a new trick.

Instead of risking their money
by betting on the races,

criminal groups now catch pigeons
during the competition,

and hold the birds for ransom,

demanding large payoffs paid in cash.

It's a problem that has plagued
the races for years.

Once the birds are captured,

these criminals demand hundreds...

...or even thousands of dollars
in ransom money.

It's difficult to imagine...

...that an activity as seemingly
innocent as pigeon racing...

...would attract
such a vicious criminal element.

But gambling syndicates
don't take chances,

and are always on the lookout
for a guaranteed winner.

Hungry for even bigger prize money,

gamblers in Taiwan have turned their
attention from the humble pigeon,

to the glamor of professional sports.

In the 1990s, baseball hit new
heights of popularity in Taiwan.

And for the nation's criminal syndicates,
this was an irresistible temptation.

In January of 2011,

Taiwanese baseball fans
were stunned by the arrest

of some of their biggest heroes.

Top players Chen Chih-yuan
and Chuang Hung Liang,

teammates at the Brother Elephants
baseball club,

were slapped with charges linking
them to the crime of match fixing.

As the case unfolds,

the way in which baseball has been
corrupted by gambling syndicates...

...is starkly exposed.

Chuang Hung Liang was accused
of negotiating a deal...

...between gangsters and his teammates.

Within that group of players

he was the most experienced.

He might just have to mention that

and many of the younger
players would be charmed.

Now on the payroll
of the powerful Taiwanese mafia,

Chuang's job is to persuade
his teammates to throw a game.

He convinces superstar
slugger Chen Chih-Yuan...

...to intentionally lose a match
that they were expected to win.

Chuang and his associates begin
to draw other players into the fold.

And like mafias around the world,
these criminals can be very persuasive.

They would first butter you up.

And it wasn't just the players
that the mafia exploited.

The elaborate scam involving
the Brother Elephants Club...

...reached the very highest rungs
of the baseball organization, and beyond.

Prosecutors realized that the trail
of corruption extended higher and wider...

...than anyone had imagined possible.

In all, 24 people, including several
baseball stars, were sentenced.

But the mastermind behind the crimes,

turned out to be former
politician Wu Chien-pao.

After a 3-month trial,

Wu was slapped
with the heaviest sentence,

seven years in prison
and a fine of 330,000 US dollars.

Some believe Wu got off lightly.

Faced with increasing
levels of illegal gambling,

prosecutors today fight
for maximum jail sentences...

...of up to 10 years...

...and fines of up to one million
US dollars, for those caught.

Following this catastrophe
for Taiwan's national sport,

police are now monitoring games
a lot more closely,

in the crowd and especially on the field.

With baseball now under the close
scrutiny of the authorities,

gambling syndicates have begun looking
for other equally lucrative targets.

And with an estimated 40 million
gambling addicts in Asia,

ruthless criminals continue
to grow their businesses,

leaving thousands of broken families
and ruined lives in their wake.

On the small island nation of Singapore,

an estimated 80,000 gambling addicts
have fueled illegal gambling operations.

23-year-old Joshua Foo knows just how
these underground networks operate,

from firsthand experience.

Six years ago, while posing
as a manager of an ordinary...

...internet gaming center,

Joshua ran an illegal gambling den.

The scam started
when Joshua and his associates...

...set up what appeared
to be a legal business.

Operating licensed internet
cafes and computer arcades,

syndicates were able to run
under the counter computer casinos...

in what appeared to be legitimate shops.

Gambling software
was installed on the computers,

like live poker, roulette
and slot machines.

Similar to a real casino...

...where gamblers exchange cash
for chips at the start.

Joshua's clients paid for digital
credits in order to play the games.

This was money that the gamblers
were told they could win back,

if they were lucky.

But unlike true games of chance,

these computer games were being
manipulated by the syndicate.

I'll be very honest.

As a prominent member of the gang,

Joshua controlled five
of these digital casinos.

But Joshua was just one cog
in the syndicate's machine.

All the money he extracted
from the gamblers...

...ended up in the pockets of the boss,
whose identity was carefully concealed.

Joshua had his criminal
lifestyle cut short,

when police raided one
of his operations in 2007.

Although his syndicate
bosses had promised...

...that they would protect Joshua
from the law, they ended up betraying him.

Joshua was abandoned
by the criminal organization,

and was threatened with death if he ever
dared to speak of their work again.

Today, he urges those still involved
to get out while they can.

Criminals in Asia's gambling underworld
now have few places to hide.

Authorities in Singapore continue
to stay one step ahead of the game.

The problem is that gambling
is so addictive...

...that the syndicates can always
find new customers to exploit…

...and Asians seem especially vulnerable.

We've seen the data coming out
of most established studies.

Compared to the Western countries
or the Caucasian population,

Orientals tend to be much more involved...

...in risk-taking activities,
especially gambling.

It seems to be in the blood, so to speak.

In our studies
in general communities, in China,

in Hong Kong, Singapore; Macau,

most of the time, it would appear
that approximately two percent...

...of the population it's to be
pathological gamblers.

Like hard drugs,

gambling can lead anyone down
the slippery slope to addiction,

debt and even death.

For example, the social problems
of seeing family dysfunctions,

family aggression when somebody
gets involved in gambling.

We are beginning to see the economic
losses to the family units.

And when this happens then we get...

...even more other
dysfunctional things happening...

...like activities where people
get involved in illicit activities,

getting involved in taking money,

criminal breach of trust...

...and actual theft and other things
just to feed their habit.

Chan became an addicted gambler...

after winning 20,000 US dollars
in the national lottery.

Hooked on the possibility
of winning even more,

Chan began to view gambling
as a means of supporting his family.

Chan's obsession took him
on a roller-coaster ride...

...from lottery tickets to slot machines,

and eventually, he found himself unable
to go one day without gambling.

Powerless to resist getting
his daily gambling fix,

Chan borrowed money from friends,

from his younger sister,

and even from illegal loan sharks.

It was a vicious cycle
that inevitably led to catastrophe.

But there is help out there
for compulsive gamblers.

The Tanjong Pagar Family Service Center...

...provides counseling support
for addicts...

...and for their families,

who often suffer the most.

You have to understand...

...that people who are involved
in addictions...

...tend to not be thinking
rationally anymore.

There is a part of the brain,

the reward center
that kind of takes over.

And this reward center drives you...

...to want to continue even
when you know all the risks.

Chan's wife issued him an ultimatum,

he had to choose between
his family and his addiction.

On the brink of disaster,

Chan sought counseling...

...and today is happy to be in recovery,

knowing just how close he came
to losing everything.

Although Chan was lucky,

millions of others remain
addicted across Asia.

And as long as
there are gamblers out there,

willing to risk it all
for a shot at the jackpot,

criminal organizations will seek
to profit from illegal gambling.

These illicit thrills are always
short-lived dangerous pleasures...

...that cost people
their possessions, their families.

Even their lives.

And when all the cards are dealt,
it's just not worth the gamble.

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