Man jailed for online gambling in China

BEIJING - In the first case of conviction for online gambling, a Chinese man has been sentenced to one year in prison and fined 10,000 yuan for his involvement in betting over soccer World Cup.

Beijing’s Dongcheng District People’s Court passed the sentence on 20-year-old Zhao Yan for helping others to bet on soccer matches, the China Daily reported Thursday.

“This is the first verdict on online soccer gambling pronounced in Beijing,” said judge Di Qicheng.

Police arrested Zhao at an internet cafe in March. The court heard that he was the middle man and had illegally collected more than 7 million yuan in bets while working for an overseas gambling website.