The involvement of organised crime in UK-linked betting was highlighted again yesterday after a restaurant worker was convicted of brutally murdering a Chinese couple who made nearly £250,000 from an online betting scam.

The Chinese government has recently conducted another crackdown on illegal gambling in the country, a move that gives further protection to the powerful duopoly of the Welfare and Sports lotteries.

Betex, the only UK-listed gaming business to operate solely in China, is putting its money on partnerships with the Chinese Sports Lottery. In an exclusive interview with Gamblingcompliance.com, CEO Peter Greenhill describes the growth in football betting, and the importance of governmental relationships.

Bookmakers will continue to offer a full service to gamblers despite a police match-fixing investigation into a string of high profile European games, according to Britain’s biggest bookmaker.

Contradictions in China’s dual-track policy of prosecuting online gambling while simultaneously approving limited cooperation with regionally licensed operators have been exposed in a recent Shanghai trial.

Chinese authorities have sent out a New Year warning that they intend to continue a campaign of "purification of the internet" and will target gamblers and gaming operators.

As it works on plans to legalise sports betting, Vietnam is striving to clean up its football industry, which has been blighted by match-fixing and illegal gambling scandals over the last few years.

While Taiwan is preoccupied with the effects of the global economic crisis and high unemployment rates, many view gambling as a way to help revive the country’s ailing economy. In the meantime, AMZ Holdings has found itself in a financial pickle from which there seems no easy way out.

A match-fixing expert who helped spark the investigation into Europe’s biggest football betting scandal has called for the harshest possible penalties for anyone convicted of match-rigging – but warned that major leagues across the continent could still be at risk.

The value of agreements between bookmakers and sporting authorities to prevent match fixing have been thrown into doubt after a series of revelations following the Davydenko tennis scandal.