A 33-year old man, Sim Kian Soon, was sentenced to a total of 11 months’ imprisonment and a $250,000 fine in respect of multiple illegal betting and bookmaking offences under the Betting Act and Common Gaming Houses Act.
The Prosecution proceeded on 10 charges out of the total of 75 charges preferred against Sim.
As Sim was unable to pay the total fine, he served an additional 25 weeks’ imprisonment in default of payment of the fine.
As a bookmaker for illegal football-betting, Sim would receive 10% of every losing bet placed by a punter.
Sim’s illegal football-betting activities involved taking bets placed for the matches in the English Premier League, Russia Premier League, Barclays Asia Trophy, USA Reserve League, UEFA Champions League and Japan Football League.
In mitigation, Sim’s criminal defence lawyer told the Court that Sim was, in spite of the large number of charges, actually not a large-scale operator.
More information on the case may be found here.