China detained 160,000 since 2020 over cross border bets

Nov 26, 2021 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck  

---

Chinese authorities have investigated more than 30,000 cross-border gambling cases since 2020 to this October, reported on Thursday China’s Global Times newspaper.

The state-owned news outlet – widely viewed as familiar with Chinese public policy trends on a variety of topics – added that as a result of the investigations, “more than 160,000 suspects” had been detained. It did not provide a source for the information.

The news report indicated that online gambling across borders, as well as wagers made at bricks-and-mortar casinos, were targets of the investigations. The Global Times did not provide a breakdown for the number of cases linked to bricks-and-mortar casinos.

The media outlet said 5,100 “gambling platforms” and 3,900 “illegal payment platforms” and underground banks were closed as a result of the enforcement exercise, “effectively curbing the rampant trend of cross-border gambling,” added the Global Times.

Assisting people to engage in “cross-border gambling” is an activity clarified as illegal for mainland Chinese authorities since March 1, following an amendment to China’s criminal code.

Thursday’s Global Times article led on a particular operation against Chinese nationals allegedly gambling funds worth CNY1.6 billion (US$250 million) via routes including the Tigre de Cristal casino resort in the Russian Far East, as reported by GGRAsia earlier this month.

---

---