HANOI, Jan. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- A Vietnamese driver at the Traffic Police Bureau of Hanoi is under investigation for managing a transnational illegal lottery and soccer-betting ring, local newspaper Labor reported Monday.

    The driver named Bui Quang Hung, who was detained in mid-December 2005, ran over 40 branches for illegal lottery and soccer betting in major localities in Vietnam, and had direct contacts with foreign bookmakers in Russia, China's Hong Kong and China's Macao, the report quoted initial investigation results of local police.

    For large soccer bets, Hung collected money from local bettors in Vietnamese currency, changed them to U.S. dollars, and sent to the foreign bookers.

    According to documents confiscated at Hung's house, a local bettor made a bet of 200,000 dollars on an English match. Within only one month until Hung's arrest, one of his customers, a local general director of a corporation, made total bets of 1.8 million dollars.

    Hung, who used to be very poor, has become rich very quickly since 1999, the report said.

    Like other kinds of gambling, except for casinos designated for foreigners and overseas Vietnamese, soccer betting is illegal in Vietnam. Dozens of local bettors and bookmakers are detained during major national and international soccer tournaments. Enditem