Gambling was outlawed in mainland China along with other activities deemed vices by the Communist Party when it took over in 1949, but is making a comeback via websites and apps aimed at Chinese. Culturally, gambling is entrenched in China, and the government is struggling to keep up with estimated 200 million regular gamblers in the country. Gambling Regulations in China. Gambling is illegal on mainland China. This ban was in place from 1949 through to the end of the 1970s, after which it experienced a brief resurgence. Gambling was abolished when China's communist regime took power in 1949. But as free-market reforms gained hold during the post-Mao era, this stubborn vice clawed its way back. Current Gambling Situation in Mainland China. Gambling has been forbidden since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. In 1987, mainland China, which is the greater part of China excluding Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, issued its first lottery ticket, the lottery becoming the only sanctioned form of gambling in the region.

Gambling in China is illegal under Chinese law^[1] and has been officially outlawed since the Communist Party took power in 1949.^[2] Any form of gambling by Chinese citizens, including online-gambling, gambling overseas, opening casinos overseas to attract citizens of China as primary customers, is considered illegal.^[3] In practice however, Chinese citizens participate in state-run lotteries, regularly travel to legal gambling centers overseas or in the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau and access gaming through offshore based proxy betting and online gambling companies.

Mainland China[edit]

The Chinese government operates two lotteries: the Welfare Lottery and the Sports Lottery set up in 1987 and 1994 respectively. The Chinese government does not legally consider the lotteries a form of gambling.^[4] Illegal gambling in China remains common, including unofficial lotteries, clandestine casinos, and betting in games such as mahjong and various card games. In 2010, The Daily Telegraph (UK) reported that an estimated one trillion yuan are wagered in illegal gambling every year in China. Problem gambling exists in the country, and may be more prevalent than in countries with legalized gambling.^[1]Online gambling is another outlet for illegal gambling in the country.^[4]

Various attempts have been made to establish legal casinos in mainland China, although these have been unsuccessful.

In June 2018, the Chinese Government banned all online poker applications. App stores had to remove all poker related applications, and the promotion of poker in general via all social media channels in China (Wechat, Weibo) became forbidden.^[5]

Hong Kong[edit]

While some aspects of mainland Chinese law apply in Hong Kong, certain forms of gambling are legal and regulated in Hong Kong. The Law of Hong Kong is based on English common law, having been a British territory until 1997. Gambling in Hong Kong has been regulated since 1977.^[6] The Hong Kong Jockey Club organizes much of the legal betting in the region.

Macau[edit]

Gambling in Macau has been legal since the 1850s, when it was a Portuguese colony. The region has a history of gambling on traditional Chinese games. Gambling in Macau now primarily takes place in Western-style casinos; in 2007, Macau overtook the Las Vegas Strip in gaming revenues. As of 2016,^[7] 38 casinos operate in Macau, and the region's annual gambling revenues exceed US$27.9 billion.^[8]

Offshore gambling[edit]

Legal restrictions on onshore gambling in Mainland China have contributed to the growth of overseas and online gambling sites that cater to Chinese nationals. Integrated gaming resorts in Singapore, Australia, Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines welcome growing numbers of Chinese tourists.

Proxy betting[edit]

As in person visits to offshore gambling venues can be both time consuming and attract the attention of law enforcement, proxy betting has grown in popularity, especially for VIP clients wishing to discretely place high stakes bets. In proxy betting, clients communicate with staffers wearing headsets at baccarat tables in offshore casinos. Proxy betting was outlawed in Macau in 2016 and has never been permitted in Australia or Singapore casinos, but now accounts for 40 percent of the $1 billion VIP gaming market in the Philippines, according to brokerage CICC.^[9]

Online gambling[edit]

Help With Gambling Problem

Online gambling in Mainland China remains illegal, however internet traffic routed via VPNs, underground banking networks and payment platforms enable Mainland Chinese customers to access and remit funds to online gaming sites. According to 2019 estimates published in Economic Information Daily, an affiliate of state-owned news agency Xinhua, the annual amount bet through online gambling in the Mainland is more than one trillion yuan (US$145 billion), equivalent to nearly twice the annual income of China’s officially sanctioned lotteries.^[10]

In the Philippines alone, where Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) can register and legally operate, over a three year period from 2016 at least 100,000 Chinese nationals were estimated to have moved to Manila to work for online gambling operators as marketing agents, tech support specialists and IT engineers to serve Mandarin-speaking clientele.^[11] To side step restrictions on direct marketing of online gambling in Mainland Chinese print or social media, many online gaming sites seeking to attract Chinese customers have become shirt sponsors for English Premier League football teams. Dafabet’s sponsorship of Fulham FC and W88’s sponsorship of Wolverhampton Wanderers are just two examples of this trend.

China Gambling Problem Definition

Large betting sites like Bet365, BetPat & WilliamHill create mirror sites to bypass local controls as seen a list of how it works here SportsTalk.org in the Guardian it was commented at length that Chinese users can face jail.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abEimer, David (9 January 2010). 'China's secret gambling problem'. Daily Telegraph. Shenyang. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
2. ^'Rien ne va plus'. The Economist. 432 (9158): 25. 31 August 2019.
3. ^'Remarks by Chinese Embassy Spokesperson on Issues of Chinese Citizens concerning Gambling in the Philippines'. Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Republic of the Philippines. 8 August 2019. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
4. ^ ^abKalenyuk, Mary (7 November 2013). 'The bets are on for gambling in China'. The World of Chinese. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
5. ^'Crackdown on online poker applications in China - Somuchpoker'. somuchpoker.com. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
6. ^Deans, Rob (2001). 'Online Gambling: Changes to Hong Kong's Gambling Legislation'. Gaming Law Review. Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.5 (6): 555–560. doi:10.1089/109218801753336166.
7. ^2016 Wynn 10-K
8. ^'Macau Gaming Summary'. University of Nevada, Las Vegas Center for Gaming Research. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
9. ^'China targets PH in offshore gambling crackdown'. Manila Bulletin. Bloomberg. 8 August 2019. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
10. ^Master, Farah (9 July 2019). 'Chinese state media target Macau's Suncity in online gambling report'. Reuters. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
11. ^Dancel, Raul (20 July 2019). 'Loan Sharks Feed Off Philippine Casino Boom'. The Straits Times. Retrieved 7 August 2019.

External links[edit]

• China Sports Lottery official website(in Chinese)

China has a long history with gambling. In the 1930’s Chiang Kai-Shek realized the threat it posed to his army’s morale and tried, unsuccessfully, to stamp it out. When Mao Zedong came to power, he too attempted to eliminate the vice. But gambling has remained a thorn in China’s side. A rise in disposable incomes and new gambling options to match have only exacerbated China’s gambling addiction in recent years. Outlawed in 1949, gambling simply went underground in China. Each year, an estimated one trillion yuan is illegally wagered in clandestine mahjong games, makeshift casinos, secretive betting websites and unsanctioned lotteries. The Chinese government has further complicated the problem by presenting legal obstacles to problem gamblers trying to access treatment. As China’s economic and political influence in Asia continues to grow, what effect will gambling have on the country’s ascent?

China’s Las Vegas

For those Chinese who can afford to gamble offshore, there are many options. The semi-autonomous former colony of Macau sits at the mouth of the Pearl River Delta in southern China and has quickly become the region’s gambling Mecca. Each year it draws millions of gaming tourists from the nearby mega-cities of Hong Kong and Guangzhou, and from further afield in the Chinese mainland. Macau’s visitors are 90% Chinese, and in 2012 the tiny island’s gambling revenues totalled more than $38 billion. In fact, Macau’s infamy has earned it the title of “Asia’s Las Vegas”, but in truth, Las Vegas, with revenues of just $6 billion in 2012, is more accurately described as “America’s Macau”.

US casino barons Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson led the push into Macau, after the Chinese government awarded licenses to the two men who had done more to clean up Las Vegas’ image than anyone else. In 2004, Adelson opened his first casino in the former colony, a small boutique operation called ‘Sands Macao’. This early investment in the Macau market gave Adelson a two-year head start on his competitors and provided him with a new source of revenue that would later help him manage the unstable debt that his Nevada holdings were accumulating as the US economy soured.

Encircled

The action is not only in Macau. Bill Weidner, a former employee of Adelson, has struck out on his own and plans to build a rival strip on Matsu, a small Taiwanese island that lies just a few miles off the coast of mainland China. Matsu is significantly closer to the population centers of Shanghai and Beijing than Macau, but it is also largely undeveloped, and unknown. The biggest challenge facing Matsu as a future gambling destination though is its precarious geopolitical status. Though cross-strait relations have improved markedly in recent years, there are still significant bureaucratic obstacles for Mainland Chinese hoping to visit Taiwanese territory, which would serve as a serious deterrent to gaming tourism.

Taiwanese legislators for their part recently passed a law giving outlying islands the chance to decide through referendum if they want to allow casinos to operate. Weidner’s confidence in Matsu’s location knows few limits, and the casino owner recently promised to spend $2.5 billion to bring the tiny island world-class amenities, including new roads, a golf course, a university campus, and improvements to the airport and ferry terminals. That is not all. Almost unbelievably, Weidner promises that if the casino opens and reaches its targets, he will pay each of the islands residents a monthly dividend, or stipend, that will start at $609 a month, and balloon to a monthly payment of $2,670 after five years.

Casinos near the Chinese border have sprung up in Vietnam and Laos as well, albeit without some of the glamor and amenities that Macau provides. Nearby Singapore, which has only two casinos, boasts annual gambling revenues greater than those of the entire Las Vegas strip combined. Even in Kazakhstan, Almaty casinos have begun catering to Chinese looking to gamble. Plans for future casinos in Vladivostok and the Philippines are underway as well. In fact, China increasingly finds itself encircled by a ring of gambling hotspots designed to attract Chinese gamblers. The potential billions in untaxed gambling revenues have not gone unnoticed by the Chinese government, but authorities fear that legalizing gambling at home would invite destabilizing social ills, including organized crime, drug abuse, bankruptcies and the break-up of families. However, tapping the revenues of domestic gambling could help the central government compensate for the Chinese economy’s slowing growth in recent years.

China Gambling Problem Solving

In a twist of irony, Beijing’s uncertain relationship with gambling has become a multi-billion dollar gamble for future investors betting on the continued success of China’s offshore casinos. If legalized, domestic gambling would quickly put many of the current offshore casinos out of business for good. But China’s reluctance to legalize the vice is understandable, and many fear that problem gambling may hinder the growth and productivity of China’s burgeoning economy. One thing is certain- China’s troubled relationship with gambling can no longer be ignored. The Chinese government must address this issue head on, but with sensitivity and pragmatism.