Guo gets

Ruling hailed

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The conviction was “a victory for the government,” noting that the case started from an employee complaint.

“It’s a show of how unity works — that no matter how powerful or influential the opponent of the agency is, as long as everyone works together, including the community, because this started from a complaint of an employee, it really shows how big the impact is when everyone helps each other toward one goal,” Acorda said.

Acorda said he hoped the decision would discourage illegal operators.

“This should show others that the government is serious about enforcing the law,” he said, adding that agencies are updating baseline figures to determine how many offshore gaming operations remain active.

Assistant State Prosecutor Olivia Torrevillas said details of the ruling remained confidential due to the nature of the case, but confirmed that eight key players were convicted.

She said it was the first conviction by a court under Section 4(l) of the Anti-Human Trafficking Law for organizing trafficking activities. “The important thing is that the main players were all convicted,” she said.