China outlines plans to crack down on cross-border gambling

The Minister of Public Security, Zhao Kezhi, held a meeting themed “Combating Cross-border gambling” on Thursday at which he underlined the importance of destroying any and all cross-border gambling syndicates operating in China.

"Chinese authorities should continue to take the best strictest measures to crack down on cross-border gambling crimes and resolutely curb cross-border gambling chaos by paying more attention to both the symptoms and the root causes of cross-border gambling and via inter-departmental prevention efforts," said Zhao.

The top official also underlined that “remarkable results” had been achieved in cracking down on cross-border gambling since last year and demanded that severe punishments for cross-border gambling syndicates.

Although analysts have considered that the changes target mainly gaming operations in the Philippines, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam the wording of the new amendment’s establishes that cope of action to gambling “outside the country (borders)”, leaving the possibility for Macau gambling operations to be covered by it.

The crackdown targeting cross-border gambling is believed to have further impacted an already hailing VIP gaming sector, strongly dependent on the cross-border services provided by junket operators.

China probed 17,000-plus cross-border gambling cases

According to the news agency Xinhua, Chinese police have investigated more than 17,000 cross-border gambling and related cases, in which close to 110,000 suspects were apprehended, said the ministry.

More than 3,400 online gambling platforms, and over 2,800 illegal payment platforms and underground banks were broken up during the operations, it added.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism said last August that the blacklist system would see travel restrictions imposed on Chinese citizens going to overseas cities and scenic spots named on the blacklist.