A coalition of government departments in China has launched a crackdown on internet gambling.
Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong and Zhejiang will be the areas most heavily policed, in a bid to ‘purify the cyber environment.’ Local government departments will be asked to strictly monitor online gaming operators.
China’s police busted a total of 347,000 gambling cases in 2006 and seized US$445m. The need for gambling restrictions in China became news in January 2005 after a senior government official lost over $30,000 in public funds during trips to a North Korean casino.
By the end of 2005, a draft bill that would amend the criminal law by increasing the maximum prison term for casino operators from three years to 10 years was submitted to the National People’s Congress Standing Committee for a first hearing.
In March 2006, a new law banned Chinese citizens younger than 18 from internet cafés, discos and karaoke bars, and prohibited government staff from running entertainment venues.
Gambling was outlawed on the mainland in 1949 when New China was founded. However, casino gambling is legal in Macau, a small territory on the southern coast of China, and remote gambling may soon be.
Gamblingcompliance.com reports that the Macau Gaming Commission has set out policy plans for a new remote licensing regime open to all applicants.
According to the report, Jorge Oliveira, Macau’s Commissioner for Gaming, outlined at the Pacific Congress on Igaming new proposals designed to meet online operator’s demands for a licensing jurisdiction in the region.
"These are not features that have yet been passed, but we intend to regulate everyone, anyone who accepts bets, including betting exchanges, will be regulated, and the regime will be open to all," Oliveira said.
Online gambling is currently prohibited in Macau, but a full-scale review of the region’s gaming laws is expected to begin next month.
