Online game 'Teen Patti Gold' alone siphoned off over Tk200cr: RAB

Over Tk200 crore has been siphoned off through the online game 'Teen Patti Gold' alone, revealed the Rapid Action Battalion Monday after arresting seven individuals for their alleged involvement in the online gambling racket and money laundering.

The elite force arrested seven persons including Ulka Games Chief Executive Officer Zamilur Rashid from Uttara and Mohakhali area of the capital on Sunday night, RAB Legal and Media Wing Director Commander Khandoker AL Moin told a press briefing on Monday at its Media Centre in Karwanbazar.

The arrestees are – Ulka Games CEO Zamilur Rashid, 31, Saymon Hossain, 29, Md Redwan Ahmed, 29, Md Rakibul Alam, 29, Md Muntakim Ahmed, 37 and Kayes Uddin Ahmed, 32.

RAB also seized some laptops, CPU, server stations, hard disc, DVD drive, debit, credit cards, bank cheque books, NID cards, passport and cash from their possession.

Ulka Games started to popularise the game "Teen Patti" in Bangladesh in 2019.

RAB Legal and Media Wing Director Khandoker Al Moin said that in 2017, Ulka Games CEO and founder Zamilur Rashid had come to an acquaintance with neighbouring India's Moonfrog Labs Private Limited, India's leading game development studio.

Later in 2018 he was appointed as the Bangladesh Representative of Moonfrog Labs with Tk1.5 lakhs monthly wages.

On December 29, 2019, upon application under Ulka Games Limited, the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) approved a project named "Teen Patti Gold" under the industry category of "retail sale of video games", RAB media director said.

After receiving the clearance, the company started to siphon off money using the 'Teen Patti Gold' and some others online gambling games.

The mother company Moonfrog Labs, made an agreement with Ulka Games for developing the county's gaming industry and made them shareholders with 0.01%.

According to Ulka Games website, founded in early 2019, ULKA GAMES LIMITED (UGL) is the fastest growing game development studio in Bangladesh. They focus on Card, Board and Casual mobile games for South Asia. UGL is committed to the development of the gaming industry of Bangladesh.

According to RAB, 'Teen Patti Gold' is a mobile application game which is available on google play store. India's Moonfrog entirely controls and monitors the game. Other than 'Teen Patti Gold' there are other games named Rakhi, Andar Bahar and Poker. The games became popular in a short span of time.

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

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 20 October, the Counter Terrorism & Transnational Crime (CTTC) of DMP 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 conducted financial transactions through Mobile Financing Services (MFS).

CTTC officials say 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 Tk10 for one crore chips.

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

Upon buying one crore chips for Tk10, the sub-agents sell it to gamers for Tk11-12, Players also have the ability to transfer chips to another user, said the official.

In the banking channel, there were transactions of around Tk14 crore in the 2019-20 fiscal year, Tk57 crore in FY 2020-21, and Tk 97 crore in FY 2021-22, according to CTTC investigators.

Currently the game has around 9 lakh regular gamers and sells some Tk30 lakh worth of chips every day.

The company has developed games like Teen Patti Gold, Ludo Club, Adda, Alia Bhatt, Bahubali, Jalebi and many more.

Investigators learned during questioning that the virtual chips are dispersed through distributors in exchange for money. Basically the money for the sale of chips was collected from the distributors through various bank accounts.

Currently Ulka Games has more than Tk80 crores in their 4 accounts.

They have also paid Tk29 crore to Moonfrog Lab in the last two years through banks. Ulka Games had a total of 36 officers and employees. About Tk30 lakh were spent every month to run the office including payment of salaries.

Besides, employees were paid bonuses at the rate between 30 and 90% of their annual salary. The company transacted online gambling money out of the country through the banking channel.