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“The Court of First Instance (TJB) has ruled on Tuesday to acquit all 15 defendants accused of conducting illegal gambling operations during the 2014 World Cup, including Malaysian businessman and professional poker player, Paul Phua Wei Seng.

The defendants were accused of conducting illegal sport betting operations from rooms at Wynn Macau between June 7 and 21 of 2014, with charges stating that some HK$1.16 billion (US$147.7 million) in bets had been placed through the group during that period.

At the time 24 men and woman were arrested – including Chinese, Hong Kong and Malaysian residents – for connection with the alleged illegal network, with 15 later formally accused of illegal gambling operations, a crime that can lead to a three year prison sentence.

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According to presiding judge, Lei Wai Seng, the Public Prosecutors Office (MP) and the Judiciary Police (PJ) failed to prove that any of the defendants was placing bets on the World Cup’s matches in behalf of third parties.

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The defense lawyer of five of the 15 defendants, Icília Berenguel, said that she couldn’t really consider that “justice had been served”.

“Justice is relative concept, there might have been more justice to some than others. What I can say is that it was a just trial and the results are clear. As I said in my final statements it was all a big load of nothing, and our clients will obviously be satisfied with the acquittal,” she said.”

Read the full story on macaubusiness.com.