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Gambling in the People's Republic of China is illegal under national law and has been officially outlawed since the
Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...
(CCP) took power in 1949. Any form of gambling by Chinese citizens, including online-gambling, gambling overseas, opening casinos overseas to attract citizens of China as primary customers, is considered illegal. In practice however, Chinese citizens participate in state-run
lotteries A lottery (or lotto) is a form of gambling that involves the drawing of numbers at random for a prize. Some governments outlaw lotteries, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find som ...
, regularly travel to legal
gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ...
centers overseas or in the special administrative regions of
Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
and
Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...
, and access gaming through offshore based proxy betting and
online gambling Online gambling (also known as iGaming or iGambling) is any kind of gambling conducted on the internet. This includes virtual poker, casinos, and sports betting. The first online gambling venue opened to the general public was ticketing for th ...
companies.


Mainland China

Gambling is generally illegal in China. Two state-run
lotteries A lottery (or lotto) is a form of gambling that involves the drawing of numbers at random for a prize. Some governments outlaw lotteries, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find som ...
exist, the Welfare Lottery and the Sports Lottery, set up in 1987 and 1994, respectively. The
Chinese government The government of the People's Republic of China is based on a system of people's congress within the parameters of a Unitary state, unitary communist state, in which the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) enacts its policies through people's ...
does not legally consider the lotteries a form of gambling. Illegal gambling in China remains common, including unofficial lotteries, clandestine casinos, and betting in games such as
mahjong Mahjong (English pronunciation: ; also transliterated as mah jongg, mah-jongg, and mahjongg) is a tile-based game that was developed in the 19th century in China and has spread throughout the world since the early 20th century. It is played ...
and various
card game A card game is any game that uses playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, whether the cards are of a traditional design or specifically created for the game (proprietary). Countless card games exist, including famil ...
s. In 2010, '' The Daily Telegraph (UK)'' reported that an estimated one trillion yuan are wagered in illegal gambling every year in China.
Problem gambling Problem gambling, ludopathy, or ludomania is repetitive gambling behavior despite harm and negative consequences. Problem gambling may be diagnosed as a mental disorder according to DSM-5 if certain diagnostic criteria are met. Pathological ...
exists in the country, and may be more prevalent than in countries with legalized gambling.
Online gambling Online gambling (also known as iGaming or iGambling) is any kind of gambling conducted on the internet. This includes virtual poker, casinos, and sports betting. The first online gambling venue opened to the general public was ticketing for th ...
is another outlet for illegal gambling in the country. In June 2018, the Chinese Government banned all online poker applications. App stores had to remove all poker related applications, and the promotion of poker in general via all social media channels in China (such as
WeChat WeChat or Weixin in Chinese ( zh, c=微信, p=Wēixìn , l=micro-message) is an instant messaging, social media, and mobile payment mobile app, app developed by Tencent. First released in 2011, it became the world's largest standalone mobile a ...
and
Weibo Weibo (), or Sina Weibo (), is a Chinese microblogging ( weibo) website. Launched by Sina Corporation on 14 August 2009, it is one of the biggest social media platforms in China, with over 582 million monthly active users (252 million daily ac ...
) were forbidden. As authorities intensify efforts to curb such activities, gambling in secluded locations, and mobile gambling setups designed to evade police detection, are increasingly prevalent, particularly in rural regions of provinces like
Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...
,
Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...
, and
Anhui Anhui is an inland Provinces of China, province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiang ...
.


Macau

Macau is a special administrative region of China and is the only place in China where casino gambling is legal. Gambling in
Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...
has been legal since the 1850s, when it was a Portuguese colony. The region has a history of gambling on traditional Chinese games. Gambling in Macau now primarily takes place in Western-style
casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...
s; in 2007, Macau overtook the
Las Vegas Strip The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of the Las Vegas city limits ...
in gaming revenues. , 38 casinos operate in Macau, and the region's annual gambling revenues exceed US$27.9 billion. On 20 December 2024,
CCP general secretary The general secretary of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party ( zh, s=中国共产党中央委员会总书记, p=Zhōngguó Gòngchǎndǎng Zhōngyāng Wěiyuánhuì Zǒngshūjì) is the leader of the Chinese Communist Party ...
Xi Jinping Xi Jinping, pronounced (born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has been the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China), chairman of the Central Military Commission ...
, while speaking on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Macau's return from Portuguese to China, encouraged the region to diversify its economy away from casinos.


Hong Kong

While some aspects of
mainland Chinese Mainland Chinese or mainlanders are Chinese people who live in or have recently emigrated from mainland China, defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (PRC) except for Hong Kong ( SAR of the PRC), Macau (SAR of the PRC) ...
law apply in Hong Kong, certain forms of gambling are legal and regulated in
Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
. The
Law of Hong Kong The law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has its foundation in the English common law system, inherited from being a former British colony and dependent territory. There are several sources of law, the primary ones being statute ...
is based on English
common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...
, having been a British territory until 1997. Gambling in Hong Kong has been regulated since 1977. The
Hong Kong Jockey Club The Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) was founded in 1884 and is one of the oldest institutions in Hong Kong. In 1960, it was granted a royal charter and renamed The Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club (). The institution reverted to its original name in 19 ...
organizes much of the legal betting in the region.
Melco Resorts & Entertainment Melco Resorts & Entertainment Limited is a developer, owner and operator of integrated resorts with entertainment and casino gaming facilities in Asia and Europe. Based in Hong Kong, the company is listed on the NASDAQ. Originally known as Melco ...
and Galaxy Entertainment Group both operate casinos in neighboring Macau but maintain their corporate headquarters in Hong Kong.


Offshore gambling

The domestic Chinese demand for gambling is significant. Legal restrictions on onshore gambling in mainland China have contributed to the growth of overseas and online gambling sites that cater to Chinese nationals. Integrated gaming resorts in
Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
,
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
,
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
,
Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
,
Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...
and the
Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
welcome growing numbers of Chinese tourists. Mongolia, a neighbour of China, is also looking into legalizing gambling and casinos for Chinese tourists.


Gambling tourism

Several gambling sites previously existed along the China-Laos border and China-Myanmar border to attract Chinese tourists. In Myanmar, Mongla was site for casinos and other entertainment operations that are illegal in China, as was Boten in Laos. Following patterns of violence against Chinese tourists, the Chinese government pressured Myanmar and Laos to shut down these sites. As of at least 2024, the trend in both Myanmar and Laos is for casinos seeking to attract Chinese tourists to be set up further away from the Chinese border.


Proxy betting

As in-person visits to offshore gambling venues can be both time-consuming and attract the attention of law enforcement, proxy betting has grown in popularity, especially for VIP clients wishing to discreetly place high stakes bets. In proxy betting, clients communicate with staffers wearing headsets at baccarat tables in offshore casinos. Proxy betting was outlawed in Macau in 2016 and has never been permitted in Australia or Singapore casinos, but now accounts for 40 percent of the $1 billion VIP gaming market in the Philippines, according to brokerage CICC.


Online gambling

Online gambling in mainland China remains illegal, however, internet traffic routed via
VPN Virtual private network (VPN) is a network architecture for virtually extending a private network (i.e. any computer network which is not the public Internet) across one or multiple other networks which are either untrusted (as they are not c ...
s, underground banking networks, and payment platforms enable mainland Chinese customers to access and remit funds to online gaming sites. According to 2019 estimates published in Economic Information Daily, an affiliate of state-owned news agency
Xinhua Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: ),J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English or New China News Agency, is the official State media, state news agency of the China, People's Republic ...
, the annual amount bet through online gambling in the Mainland is more than one trillion yuan (US$145 billion), equivalent to nearly twice the annual income of China's officially sanctioned lotteries. In October 2014, ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' newspaper reported that one major online site, Bet365 had been taking bets from Chinese citizens by using obscure domain names to avoid government web censorship. In the Philippines, President
Rodrigo Duterte Rodrigo Roa Duterte (, ; born March 28, 1945) is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 16th president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. He is the first Philippine president from Mindanao, and is the oldest person to assum ...
in 2016 started the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGO) program to allow online gambling in major cities. Under POGO, the state-owned
Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR; ) is a government-owned and controlled corporation established in 1977 through the Presidential Decree No. 1869. PAGCOR is the Philippines' largest contributor of revenue to the government a ...
issued licenses to be used for service providers to offer online gambling. Most of the companies which obtained POGO licenses were Chinese, and their businesses primarily catered to the ethnic Chinese community at-large. Over three years beginning in 2016, at least 100,000 Chinese nationals were estimated to have moved to Manila to work for online gambling operators as marketing agents, tech support specialists and IT engineers to serve Mandarin-speaking clientele. To side step restrictions on direct marketing of online gambling in mainland Chinese print or social media, many online gaming sites seeking to attract Chinese customers have become shirt sponsors for
English Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...
football teams. Dafabet's sponsorship of Fulham FC and W88's sponsorship of
Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...
are just two examples of this trend. The Chinese government sought to persuade the Philippines to ban online gambling. In the view of the Chinese government, online gaming undermines Chinese financial institutions and creates crime and social problems in China. The Duterte government did not want to restrain the online gaming industry because of the huge revenues it produced for the state, although after an August 2019 meeting between Duterte and Chinese leader
Xi Jinping Xi Jinping, pronounced (born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has been the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China), chairman of the Central Military Commission ...
, the Philippines increased its raids on illegal gambling operators. After the election of presidential election of
Bongbong Marcos Ferdinand "Bongbong" Romualdez Marcos Jr. (, , ; born September 13, 1957), commonly referred to by the initials BBM or PBBM, is a Filipino politician who has served as the 17th president of the Philippines since 2022. He is the second child ...
, the Philippines took a harsher stance against online gambling, and in September 2022, the Philippines Department of Justice announced that it would shut down more than 100 online gambling operators and deport approximately 40,000 Chinese nationals working in the online gambling sector. Before 2020, a significant number of Chinese online gambling operations operated from
Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...
, particularly Sihanoukville. In 2018, Cambodia and China established a joint law enforcement partnership. In 2019, they opened the National Police's Anti-Technology Crime Division joint operations center in
Phnom Penh Phnom Penh is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Cambodia, most populous city of Cambodia. It has been the national capital since 1865 and has grown to become the nation's primate city and its political, economic, industr ...
. A day after the center's inauguration, more than 100 Chinese were arrested and deported from Cambodia to China to be prosecuted. Cambodia banned online gambling effective in 2020. Many of the Chinese gambling operators who left Cambodia after the ban did not return to China. Instead, many migrated to Karen State, Myanmar, in the Myanmar-Thai border region where they established gambling operations. In 2024, the Chinese Ministry of Public Security dismantled more than 4,500 online gambling platforms.


History

Dice games have historically been a popular form of gambling in China. Among oldest recorded accounts of gambling date back to 3,000 years ago in China where "keno" was first played to fund the construction of the Great Wall. ''
Liubo ''Liubo'' (; Old Chinese *''kruk pˤak'' “six sticks”) was an History of China, ancient Chinese board game for two players. The rules have largely been lost, but it is believed that each player had six game pieces that were moved around the ...
'' is the earliest gambling game in China, which was reportedly invented by Wu Cau, a minister of Xia Jie. This game was played by 2 or 4 persons. Following this invention, Wu Cao came to be worshipped by the gambling stall owners during
Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
. The historical records show Liubo was popular among nobles or the upper class society during the
Shang Dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty that ruled in the Yellow River valley during the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Western Zhou d ...
. During the times of Xia and Shang, the nature of gambling was mainly associated with leisure and entertainment. The wagering elements were slowly added into these games during 700 BCE - 476 BCE as gambling gained popularity among the common people.


See also

* 2004 Chinese lottery scandal * Gambling in Taiwan


References


External links


China Sports Lottery official website
{{economy of China Society of the People's Republic of China