Police in Wuhan, Hubei province, busted a gambling site under the guise of a leisure fishing park and apprehended dozens of gamblers and operators, China Central Television reported.
In a news feature aired on Wednesday, it was revealed that the fishing park, in Wuhan’s Huangpi district, was branded with short videos circulating on social media that promised to award lucky anglers who caught fish marked with “top prize” with 600,000 yuan ($84,000).
Upon learning about its location, plain-clothed police officers tried to investigate by pretending to be fishermen but were denied entry to the park and told that they needed an invitation. The officers had to wait and observe in nearby villages.
They later learned that the park organized two sessions every day, and the entry fee was 2,480 yuan for a five-hour session.
Considering the expensive threshold, yet anglers kept coming, the police decided to further look into the matter.
After eventually gaining entry to the site, they found that anglers were told that more than 15,000 black carp were farmed in a pool, and about 700 were specially marked on their fins to represent higher prizes. Anglers who caught the fish would cash in upon leaving.
However, as anglers’ spots were decided by drawing lots, the length of the rods was capped, and the caught fish had to be properly hooked from their mouth rather than from the body or the side. Few anglers could actually earn back the entry fee, the police said.
Nevertheless, “customers” kept coming from around the country even though some have lost all their money. “The operators set up a huge award and entice the greed of anglers to illegally profit from it,” said Yuan Quan, a police officer in Wuhan’s Huangpi district who was involved in the case.
More than 100 police officers eventually “pulled the net,” capturing about a dozen operators and dozens of anglers, seizing more than 100,000 yuan of gambling money on the site. A ledger showed that the fishing park amounted to some 3 million yuan in revenues in less than a month, the police said.