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Over 540 suspects have been arrested for organising online football gambling using bitcoin, with over 10 billion Yuan (1.5 billion dollars) of money involved, police in south China’s Guangdong Province said on Wednesday.

The suspects were associated with over 20 gangs, while 70 mobile apps and websites, as well as 250 online chat groups were shut down.

Servers, computers, cellphones and bank cards were also confiscated.

Police noticed an online gambling platform that accepted bitcoin in May and launched an investigation.

The platform accumulated 330,000 members in eight months.

Police arrested six key members in southwest, central and southern China, froze assets of over 5 million Yuan, and confiscated virtual currency worth over 10 million Yuan.

Another 20 more gambling gangs have been busted during the World Cup. (Xinhua/NAN)