• By Chiu Chun-fu and Jason Pan / Staff reporters

Authorities have busted one of the largest online gambling operations that mainly catered to Chinese clients, arresting 31 executives and staff working at an information technology (IT) company in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖), Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) officials said on Thursday.

A Chinese man surnamed Li (李) and his Taiwanese wife, surnamed Lin (林), both in their 30s, headed the operations, registered under the name Care Well Technology Co (啟諾科技), an IT and software service firm founded in 2021, the bureau told a news conference.

The couple, who previously worked as software engineers, hired more than 100 people to set up a system of casino Web sites that offer poker, mahjong and other games for people to bet on and gamble, said Ho Chia-hsuan (何嘉軒), a squad captain at the bureau’s First Investigation Corps.

“Besides online poker and casino games, they also offer sites for sports betting. Customers can place wagers on European Championship soccer, Olympic events and all types of international sports leagues. People can also bet on card games, as well as some obscure games that are not well-known in Taiwan, but are popular in China,” Ho said.

The bureau displayed computers, servers, telecom devices, mobile phones and other items that it had seized after raiding the company’s offices.

CIB investigators surfed online platforms and gaming sites last year, and discovered illegal gambling sites such as the Dragon Ace Casino (尊龍娛樂城) and four other online sites operated by Care Well Technology, Ho said.

“We monitored the company’s online gambling and money flow from last year to early this year. Our unit and other CIB investigators were astonished to find that customers, mainly Chinese, had wagered a total of NT$120 billion [US$3.72 billion] within just four months,” Ho said.

The investigation found that the couple received US$140,000 in monthly commissions, tagged as engaging in “customer service,” for a parent gaming company, officials said.

The parent company, an even larger business based in the Philippines, operates five major online casino sites catering to Chinese and Southeast Asian customers, officials said.

Records show that Care Well Technology has been expanding its operations in the past few years in response to the high demand, putting out adverts to recruit IT engineers and customer service staff who are proficient in Chinese, English and Japanese, Ho said.

After a period of surveillance and gathering evidence, bureau investigators in May raided the company’s offices and arrested 31 executives and staff, who have been listed as suspects following questioning by Taipei prosecutors.

The suspects could face additional charges if they are implicated as part of a transnational criminal ring and found to be involved in money laundering, bureau officials said.