PBOC wants tougher cross-border gambling controls
The People’s Bank of China will go after payment services used to send money to betting platforms outside the country.
China.- The People’s Bank of China is set to crack down on payment services providers who facilitate Chinese use of foreign gaming platforms.
China’s central bank plans to make it more difficult for locals to transfer money out of the country for use on online casinos and apps.
Fan Yifei, a deputy governor of the bank said at a recent meeting, according to Caixing Global: “Cutting off the financing channels used by the gambling sector is a crucial task in preventing and defusing major financial risks and is a national security issue,”
He is said to have called for greater collaborative effort from various government departments in investigating cases involving “cross-border gambling funds”.
It’s not the first move in this direction. In April, the Bank imposed a 116 million yuan fine on the Beijing-based payment company Allscore Payment Services for its involvement in facilitating gambling.
The bank also issued a draft regulation on June 8 to determine that each channel for funds, including QR codes and bank card scanners, can only be used by one business and one account, and that payment companies will be obliged to check clients’ identities.
China recently launched an online platform for illegal gambling whistleblowers to report infractions.
