Hanoi court opens first-instance trial of 58 defendants in cross-border online gambling case

A Hanoi People's Court on 26 May 2026 opened the first-instance trial of 58 defendants charged with organising and participating in a large transnational online gambling and money-laundering network allegedly linked to operations in Laos.

The trial had previously been adjourned before reopening on Tuesday.

Ringleader Mai Anh Viet, 45, of Kim Lien ward, Hanoi, faces prosecution under Article 322(2) of the Penal Code for organising gambling, and under Article 324(3) for money laundering. All charges are yet to be proven in court.

The remaining 57 defendants face charges of either organising gambling or gambling under Articles 321 and 322. The proceedings are expected to span three days.

Arrests made in Laos

The case came to light on 18 May 2025, when Lao authorities raided a hotel in Vientiane and detained Viet along with 29 other Vietnamese nationals.

The group was found allegedly operating online betting through three websites — Bong X9, AZbet88, and CR88 — using equipment said to facilitate football betting, baccarat, and other forms of online wagering.

The suspects and all seized evidence were subsequently transferred to Vietnam's Ministry of Public Security for further investigation and prosecution under Vietnamese law.

How the network was allegedly built

According to the indictment, Viet is alleged to have hired programmers in early 2022 to build the gambling website Bong X9, linking it to major international bookmakers including bong88.com, viva88.com, and sbobet.com.

The platform allegedly offered football and basketball betting, lottery-style games, casino games, and online card games.

After the platform allegedly underperformed, the indictment states that Viet entered into an arrangement in late 2022 with Nguyen Huu Son, 42, of Ho Chi Minh City, to redesign and reprogram the system.

Under the alleged arrangement, Viet directly directed and managed the gambling operation, while Son is said to have liaised with bookmakers, purchased betting credits from overseas operators, and resold them to bettors.

Singaporean developer from Gaming Soft named

Son is alleged to have subsequently contacted a Singaporean national known on the messaging application Telegram by the aliases Lawren and Chinh, who is identified in the indictment as an employee of a company called Gaming Soft.

Lawren's team is alleged to have taken responsibility for the technical and software development of the platforms, as well as ongoing site maintenance.

Viet's group is said to have handled all marketing, player recruitment, account creation, and cash-in and cash-out operations.

In early 2023, according to prosecutors, the two men launched two additional platforms — AZbet88 and EX88. To evade detection, the sites allegedly operated under multiple rotating domain names, including bongx9.bet, bongx9.live, azbet88.bet, az88.app, and ex88.com.

Vientiane hotel used as alleged operational base

Viet is alleged to have established the network's operational hub on the seventh floor of the Paradie Hotel in Vientiane, as well as at two other addresses in the city's Xaysettha District.

He is said to have recruited Vietnamese nationals to travel to Laos to staff the operation, allegedly providing accommodation and paying monthly salaries ranging from VND5 million to VND30 million, or a share of profits, sometimes channelled through a Lao associate identified only as Thien.

Staff were allegedly organised into specialised teams covering advertising and player recruitment, customer service, deposit and withdrawal support, technical operations, logistics, and driving. All teams are said to have worked around the clock at the hotel.

Around January 2023, Viet allegedly engaged Truong Dinh Thanh Quang, 35, of Bao An ward, Khanh Hoa province, to conduct livestream broadcasts of football matches and analyse betting lines to attract new bettors to the three platforms.

Quang is alleged to have carried out approximately five livestreams per week between 9pm and 2am over a period of more than two years, earning a total of VND1.4 billion from the arrangement.

Customer service team allegedly supervised from Hanoi

A 14-member customer service team was allegedly tasked with guiding bettors through account creation, deposits, and withdrawals via Telegram, as well as handling password resets and proactively contacting bettors to encourage continued participation.

That team was allegedly managed by Nguyen Thi Ngoc Chi, 45, of Giang Vo ward, Hanoi, who is said to have earned VND560 million from her role over the course of the operation.

More than US$151 million allegedly wagered

From January 2023 to May 2025, total wagers across the three platforms are alleged to have exceeded VND4,000 billion, equivalent to approximately US$151.82 million, according to the indictment.

In the final weeks of the alleged operation alone — between 1 April and 17 May 2025 — 579 accounts were allegedly used to place bets totalling VND263 billion, illustrating the claimed scale of activity immediately before the arrests.

Proceeds allegedly laundered through rotating savings pools

To allegedly disguise the origins of the proceeds, the indictment states that Viet instructed funds to be transferred through personal bank accounts and into informal rotating savings pools — a practice known in Vietnamese communities as hui or ho.

Viet is alleged to have carried out this laundering alongside his wife, Tran Thi Hong Hai, 45, also of Hanoi, who was allegedly instructed to monitor payment schedules and balances. Investigators say Viet did not disclose to his wife that the funds were derived from criminal activity.

Between 17 January 2023 and 18 May 2025, more than VND5 billion was allegedly transferred from company accounts into hui pools. Of this sum, over VND4 billion is said to have gone into ten hui payments organised by Lam Thi Kieu, born 1994, of Ho Chi Minh City, and VND598 million into five payments organised by Trinh Le Binh, born 1978, also of Ho Chi Minh City.

Authorities allege that Viet concealed the criminal origin of more than VND18.8 billion in total. His alleged personal illicit gains are said to exceed VND5 billion.