China reveals new measures to stop illegal gambling
Days before the upcoming Chinese New Year, the government announced that efforts against illegal gambling activities and gambling trips will continue. China's Ministry of Public Security issued a statement urging operators and individuals guilty of gambling or illegal activities to surrender. A new set of measures coordinated by the Minister of Public Security, bringing together various departments, is coming into force.
China will redouble its efforts to combat illegal gambling activities, focus on domestic and cross-border online gambling, and crack down on capital outflows. This latest crackdown has been engineered by the Ministry of Public Security and Vice Minister Sun Lijun and is just the latest in a series of measures China has been spearheading to limit illegal gambling activities.
China Targets Foreign Operators
More specifically, it has been accelerating its efforts outside the country, targeting the Philippine offshore gaming industry. In 2019, he called on the Philippines to clamp down on Filipino online gaming operators, but was met with opposition and protests from the Philippine government, which claimed that China was meddling in the country's internal affairs. Although the Philippines did not implement a similar ban on online gambling and continues to grant legal licenses to operators in the country.
Despite this, the Philippine and Chinese authorities have announced that they are working hand in hand to combat illegal gambling operations in the country.
The Philippines has cracked down on people linked to illegal gambling activities. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has been tough on the online gambling industry, demanding that POGOs pay back taxes and offer fair employment conditions.
Enforcing China’s Illegal Gambling Measure
To enforce the new measures, the Chinese government will put to work 21 departments, the Central Propaganda Department, the Central Office of Cyberspace, as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Zhao that will collaborate with the Ministry of Security Public. According to official data, the government has managed to control much of the illegal gambling at home, there have been 7,200 criminal cases of illegal gambling in 2019.
On December 2020, the Chinese government voted on an amendment to the country's Criminal Law that would take effect on March 1 of this year and that will allow the courts to hand down prison sentences for those who organize trips with the intention of gambling. The harshest sentences can be up to 10 years in prison for people arrested and found guilty on such charges.
What China seeks with these measures is to reduce the flow of money to foreign casinos. A report by the Ministry of Public Security revealed that Chinese players have spent in 2020, 146,000 million dollars in the casinos of foreign operators.
As part of its campaign against gambling, the country banned the popular travel platform TripAdvisor and approximately 100 mobile apps that were a threat to national security. The Ministry works to identify online gamblers, punishing those who spend large sums and running educational programs for low-end customers.
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