Photo : Collected
Mega Casino World (MCW) is the largest online gambling site in the country. Deposits can be made from a minimum of Tk 500 up to Tk 1 lakh there. This amount can be deposited multiple times. From football to cricket to scatter, all types of gambling apps are there. Gambling on the app has reached epidemic levels across the country. Ordinary people are falling into the trap as they are promised returns of up to 10,000 times of their investment in various games.
State Minister for Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak recently said in an event that 50 lakh people of the country are addicted to online gambling. He said families are being destroyed due to gambling and money is being smuggled out of the country. “We cannot accept this. This must be stopped.” He also said they are working to stop gambling sites.
Criminal Investigation Department Chief Additional Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mohammad Ali Mia said one of the challenges in controlling online gambling in the country is lack of information. “Besides, there is no research and specific laws on this. It is estimated that there are more than 6,500 gambling teams in the country.”
He said that it is necessary to bring mobile banking institutions and cellphone operators under the law. “In e-money, the source of money is never seen. There have been several cases in this regard.”
Investigation revealed that a software engineer earned Tk 1 lakh by investing only Tk 20. Later, he got addicted and made more investments. However, he could not make profits again and lost Tk 6-7 lakh. He lost a lot of money due to online gambling addiction.
Not only him, the number of people who have become destitute due to gambling addiction is not low. The software engineer from the capital said on condition of anonymity that he completed his studies from a renowned institution in the country. “After that, I started working as a representative of Bangladesh in a foreign company with a high salary. Suddenly, the topic of online gambling came up through a friend. Out of curiosity, I tried several times experimentally. After playing with only Tk 20, I earned Tk 1.2 lakh at once.”
“The whole thing seemed like a dream to me. Gradually, I invested more there. At one point, I got seriously addicted. Most of the gambling was done at night. As a result, I fell behind in my office activities. At one point, I was no longer living a normal life. At the same time, I was also losing money. I also lost my job. In total, I lost Tk 6-7 lakh,” he added.
Various measures have been taken repeatedly by the law enforcement agencies to protect the young generation of the country from this evil. However, those did not bear fruit. Gambling activities are being conducted online very comfortably from abroad. On the other hand, the agents of gambling rackets living in the country are helping them. In return, the agents are earning a large sum of money. Almost 100 per cent of these transactions are done through mobile banking.
Investigations show most gambling or betting sites are being presented to people through various videos of attractive offers and boosted advertisements on different social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Strategies are being adopted to attract members in the beginning. People are stepping into this dark world with the greed of becoming rich with little investment or making double profits. They become greedy and invest extra money. That's when the true form of these schemes comes out. Huge sums of money are lost instantly on gambling boards. The websites then suddenly disappear when people get addicted and invest money. Financial, emotional, and physical damage begins.
Rezaul Masud, special superintendent of police of the Cyber Intelligence and Risk Management unit under Dhaka Metropolitan Police CID, said these are transboundary crimes and are not bound by limits. “Websites are made in one country, operated in another, and then transactions happen in a third one. These are organised crimes. To be honest, it is not possible to control these crimes. Earlier, gambling transactions would be done on international gateways. Now transactions are being done through various domestic mobile banking services. The registration of related apps has also been made very easy. That's why online gambling has reached marginal areas.”
He also said, “To control this, financial transactions should be strictly monitored. In that case, only the operators concerned can stop these activities. If they monitor the transactions of specific agents or numbers, they can detect unusual cash-in, cash-out, or transactions. If they are sincere, online gambling will reduce by 50 per cent.”
In this regard, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Systems and Services Division Director General Brigadier General Md Khalil-ur-Rahman said, “We are constantly playing an effective role in such matters. Once a website is blocked, a small dot is added to it to make a new one, which is then operated again. So far, we have blocked 26,000 websites. Our team is monitoring these activities every day. Still, they are trying to spread online gambling in various ways. We are in a strict position to control this.”
Cyber expert and managing director of Decodes Lab Arif Moinuddin said, “In this age of technology, you cannot control these things just because you want to. It is impossible to control these without creating public awareness at the individual level. Investing in these schemes is very easy. You have to pay a small amount in the beginning. For example, you can start online gambling with Tk 20-100. Now is the time to impose strict control.”
Messenger/Fameema
