Society

China vows crackdown on online gambling

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-02-27 20:09

BEIJING: China's Ministry of Public Security has vowed to step up crackdown on online gambling.

Initial statistics show more than 2,000 foreign and domestic gambling websites target Chinese gamblers, said Gu Jian, vice director of the ministry's cyber security bureau.

Gu said online gambling exists in all Chinese provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions to "varying degrees."

Online gambling is common in the Pearl and Yangtze river deltas -- China's export-oriented industrial heartland -- and the border areas of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and Yunnan province, he added.

Gu said police investigation showed most domestic online gambling operations are controlled by institutions abroad.

Nearly all major international gambling groups have Chinese-language websites to target Chinese gamblers, and some even send operatives into China to recruit agents.

Conservative estimates show tens of billions of yuan flow out of China via online gambling annually.

Online gambling is also often linked to other mafia-style criminal activity, including violent crimes, kidnapping, blackmail, economic crimes and corruption, Gu said.

Chinese police cracked 210 online gambling cases and arrested 918 suspects in the 13 days ending February 20, after eight Party departments, government ministries and financial regulatory bodies launched a seven-month nationwide campaign to curb online gambling on February 8.