A STOREMAN quit his job for better pay to manage an illegal gambling den in Geylang in December two years ago.

He was paid $1,400 a month but within weeks, Yeh Teng Hwee, 34, was in the clutches of the police.

On Monday, he was jailed for two weeks and fined $10,000 after he admitted helping operate an illegal gambling den.

According to court documents, police seized 50 computers and $6,600 in cash from the den in Lorong 18 Geylang.

There was about a handful of customers when police raided it at 4.45pm on Dec 29, 2006 and one of them told the cops that they would exchange cash for credits through Yeh.

The credits were transferred onto a computer and the players could place bets on casino games such as blackjack, poker and baccarat. When they left, Yeh would convert the credits back into cash for them.

Asking the court to show mercy, lawyer Gurdaib Singh said that Yeh's parents are both unemployed and depend on Yeh.

Yeh could have been fined $50,000 and jailed for three years.

The den's owner has yet to be dealt with.

The software for these casino games is believed to have been smuggled in and sold to the various gambling dens to be downloaded onto computers.

In February, police seized nine such computers from a den along Toh Guan Road.

Last December, police seized 14 computers from a cellphone shop in Bedok Reservoir Road that doubled up as a gambling den in the evenings.