Online card game: Indian firm facilitates illegal gambling

October 26, 2022 India Crime & Legal

An Indian company sold virtual poker chips in Bangladesh and took the lion’s share of Tk 168 crore out of the country, a CTTC investigation found.

The company, Moonfrog Asia Pte Ltd, transferred the money, which they made over the last three years by selling the chips, into their account in Singapore, the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit said.

The company had taken permission from the government to sell video games but is actually selling virtual poker chips, according to official documents.

Members of the CTTC said selling poker chips is illegal in the country as it is a form of gambling and a punishable offence in Bangladesh as per the Public Gambling Act-1967.

On October 20, the CTTC filed a case with Shahjahanpur Police Station against 10 named Bangladeshis and four to five unidentified people on charges of “operating online gambling”.

According to the first information report, local and foreign fraudsters hosted online gambling and conduct financial transactions through Mobile Financing Services (MFS).

“We have already arrested a suspect, Md Benzir Hossain, who is hosting gambling with nine other absconding people through gaming sites, including Teen Patti Gold [owned by Moonfrog Asia], Teen Patti Ace Pro, KK Patti,” Tohidul Islam, additional deputy commissioner of CTTC unit, told The Daily Star yesterday.

He said they have come to know about the gambling activities through cyber patrolling.

CTTC filed the case under Sections 30 and 35 of the Digital Security Act, which states up to five years’ imprisonment for e-transaction without legal authority, and for abetting offences.

According to investigators, Zamilur Rashid, the founder and CEO of Ulka Games Limited, a game studio in Bangladesh, came in touch with Moonfrog Asia, which developed the Teen Patti Gold game, in 2017.

Zamilur was appointed as the director of the Indian company in Bangladesh as a one percent shareholder.

On December 29, 2019, upon application of Ulka Games Limited, the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) approved a project named “Teen Patti Gold”, and the type of industry was “retail sale of video games”.

In the BIDA approval, the promoter was Moonfrog representative Tanay Biraj Mohan Tayal and the company address was Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka. The total investment was Tk 1.25 crore.

CTTC officials say upon approval, Ulka Games appointed around 14 agents in different districts in Bangladesh to sell poker chips for the games.

To play the game, players have to pay the agents Tk 10 for one crore chips.

These 14 agents also appointed sub-agents, said a CTTC official.

Upon buying one crore chips for Tk 10, the sub-agents sell it to game users for Tk 11-12, said ADC Tohid, quoting primary investigation findings.

Tohid said arrestee Benazir was a sub-agent in Khulna and used to make transactions of Tk 15,000-20,000 daily.

Players also have the ability to transfer chips to another user, said the official.

In the banking channel, there were transactions of around Tk 14 crore in the 2019-20 financial year, Tk 57 crore in FY 2020-21, and Tk 97 crore in FY 2021-22, according to CTTC investigators.

“We are now checking how many people are playing online games in Bangladesh and whether any transaction has taken place through an unauthorised channel, like hundi,” said ADC Tohid.

Asked why they approved a gambling project, a senior BIDA official said they enquired about the company before registering it, and at the time no online gambling activity was noticed.

Shah Mohammad Mahboob, the then director, and now director general-3 (International Investment Promotion) of BIDA, who signed the registration papers, refused to comment on the issue.

Contacted, Zamilur Rashid, director of Teen Patti Gold in Bangladesh, said they were not involved in any gambling.

“You can call it gambling when the company gives payouts in exchange for investment. But in the game, we only sell chips and never buy it back or give profit to users,” he told The Daily Star.

Asked if users could share chips with others, Zamilur said it was a loophole in the game and they were working to fix it.

“It is also a loss for the company as users are buying chips from other users, and not from us,” he said.

He added that they sought approval from the ICT division two years ago but were yet to get any response. “We have no ill intention and we only want to expand the game industry in the country.”