BEIJING, July 12  -- A total of 108 suspects in China were arrested for football gambling during the ongoing 2014 FIFA World Cup tournament, said the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) on Saturday.

Over 18 billion yuan (2.88 billion U.S. dollars) were involved in the gambling cases, according to the MPS.

Police authorities have since May this year discovered an overseas gambling website which organized gambling activities in China and developed Chinese agents.

The football gambling section of the website has been found popular during the World Cup, the MPS said.

On July 4, police from eight provinces raided the agent organizations in China of the cross-border gambling website, apprehending 17 suspects, confiscating and freezing more than 30 million yuan of their illegal income.

Investigations found that the server of the gambling website is based in the Philippines, and the criminal gang behind the website has obtained illegal gains of over 200 million yuan through exacting commissions and "super membership" fees.