China nabs hundreds for ‘casinos overseas’ online bets

Jul 25, 2023 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck  

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About 300 individuals were arrested by the Shapingba district police in China’s Chongqing city, amid an operation reported to have disrupted a “cross-border gambling” operation involving games “live-streamed in casinos overseas”, reported on Monday the country’s China News Service agency.

It did not mention the location or names of the foreign venues.

But the police were cited saying the crackdown involved more than 10 cities on the Chinese mainland. It resulted in the claimed disruption of “seven gambling platforms” and “20 gambling dens”, said the report. The police believed the latter were places people gathered to make the wagers.

The detected amount of cash generated was “over CNY400 million” (US$55.9 million), the media outlet quoted Shapingba district police – in a part of western China’s Sichuan province – as saying.

The police thought “thousands of Chinese gamblers” on the mainland had been lured to take part, via advertising promising a “virtual experience of an overseas casino” and “immediate offline settlement of wagers”.

The investigation is ongoing, the report said.

A number of government departments in mainland China has, in recent years, issued statements regarding cracking down on citizens travelling overseas for casino play or having involvement in betting. China’s amended criminal code outlaws anyone assisting others in such activity. It came into effect from March 1, 2021.

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