China: 46,575 prosecuted for gambling-related crimes in H1
China has reported that 46,575 people were prosecuted for gambling-related crimes in the first half of the year, up 27.7 per cent when compared with the same period of 2019.
China.- Chinese authorities have reported an increase in prosecutions for gambling-related crimes in the first half of the year, mainly related to casinos in Macau. They said that 86.3 per cent of the prosecutions were for the “establishment of casinos”.
They said 46,575 people were prosecuted, up 27.7 per cent when compared with the same period of 2019. In the whole of 2020, 80,537 people were prosecuted for gambling-related crimes, but the number was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Supreme People’s Procuratorate said: “Gambling-related crimes have become increasingly Internet-based and developed in virtual formats.
“Internet-based gambling has been gradually replacing traditional, brick-and-mortar casinos in becoming a main format of crimes.”
A few weeks ago, 74 suspects were arrested for alleged cross border gambling operations in southwest China’s Chengdu City. Eleven of those were suspected of running more than 20 gambling apps that took payments via apps such as WeChat and QQ.
In May, the Ministry of Public Security announced that police had investigated more than 18,000 cross-border gambling cases and arrested 110,000 people since 2020.
China expands its gambling blacklist
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has said it has made a third selection of overseas gambling destinations to add to its blacklist.
Despite the fact that the original list has yet to made public, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said it would work with other government departments to “suspend tour groups and arrangement of tourist visas for outbound travel to the recently added destinations.”
According to authorities, the so-called blacklist aims to “safeguard the lives and financial safety of Chinese citizens.”
The Ministry stated: “We will adopt measures to suspend outbound tour groups and the arrangement of tourist visas for trips to these cities and attractions abroad that are on the blacklist.”
In January, a second selection of destinations was added to the list. Analysts assume the list includes Australia, Cambodia, the Philippines and Vietnam, which are all popular casino destinations for Chinese customers.
