Known as the world’s biggest bookie, the Malaysian poker player Paul Phua has been closely watched, fearing another match fixing scandal. Back in 2014 he was arrested after the FBI raided his villa at Caesars Palace in Vegas during the 2014 World Series of Poker. Since the arrest in July 2014, there has been over 80 interviews in eight countries conducted, thousands of pages with courts documentation examined across eight countries worldwide. Some of the biggest poker stars, Wall Street investors, figures of the criminal world in America and China – still the renowned poker high roller walks free.
Mr. Phua was spotted in Melbourne in early January, following a personal invitation from the Crown Casino. This obviously made the Australian authorities nervous (especially given that Australia was in the middle of hosting the Australian Open). Paul Phua has been involved with a number of illegal sport betting websites and match fixing scandals, which with the recent events in the world of tennis make it even more of a concern.
To quote Victoria Police Assistant Neil Paterson “… they’re accepting bets roughly of about $2 billion every week. It’s estimated globally that the unregulated betting markets that operate across all sports are worth between $1 [trillion] and $3 trillion annually.”
An investigation launched uncovered match fixing dating back to 2013, when many will remember the biggest scandal in Australia’s soccer scene for quite some time.
No comments were made from either Paul Phua himself and any Crown Casino representatives.
For those of you who are not familiar with the name. Wei Seng “Paul” Phua was born in Miri, on the island of Borneo, in Malaysia. Whilst working on building sites, he made contact with local gamblers in Chinese coffee shops. He quickly built himself a reputation of a good bookmaker with skill and connections. With the rise of the internet in the 90s Phua was one of the few to see and seize the opportunity to build a name for himself online. Then the so called Floodlights Affair happened in 1997.
Two Premier League matches were suspended due to cut of electrics. By the rules of Asian bookmaking bets made in the first half are paid out if the second has been entered (which was the case with both). Even though Paul Phua was never officially linked to this incident, two Malaysian nationals and a stadium guard were found guilty, but is suspected to have funded the affair.
Supposedly with the cash made, Phua funded his entry into the world of technology and online gambling. And here we are today.
That is it for now, hope you read that with pleasure, I sure found it amusing! See you soon, keep checking in regularly to make sure you don’t miss any news from us!