China to develop sports-related gambling

The government has approved the development of horse racing and sports lottery in Hainan, in order to promote tourism on the island.

China.- The island of Hainan could soon have its own horse racing industry and sports lottery after the Chinese government approved its development in order to promote tourism in the region. The decision comes as part of a reform agenda that has been recently approved by China’s Cabinet in order to establish a free trade zone in the province.

The reform is aimed to get foreign investors and multinational companies to arrive in Hainan and includes gambling among many other measures. As reported by Xinhua News, part of it suggests to “explore the development of sports lottery and instant lottery on large-scale international games”, however, it did not elaborate any further.”

Gambling has already been suggested as a way to attract tourists to Hainan but experts assessed that the casino industry wouldn’t be an effective way to do so. Still, many Chinese companies remain expectant on a potential gambling legalisation in the island.

“Since you can’t stop Chinese people from gambling, it is a better solution to make sure that foreign or private capital do not overly profit from it,” wrote Associate Professor Pei Guangyi at the School of Economics and Management at Hainan Normal University in a paper. The Professor is a member of a group of scholars commissioned by Hainan’s government to study how gambling tourism could be developed on the island.