China continues to push hard for the anti-gambling laws. The country is now putting the international companies on notice for possible criminal penalties.
The state-run media on Tuesday reported that the Standing Committee of National People’s congress was reviewing the amendment of laws. This law would eventually criminalize any overseas entity’s attempt to lure Chinese citizens of gambling.
It has coincided with the probe into Australian casino operator Crown Resort. It is accused of promoting gambling on the Chinese mainland. The probe has also resulted in the arrest and detention of Crown Resort staff for a long period of time.
China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced a blacklist of overseas gambling destinations. The country has however failed to announce the names of the country.
The amendment talks about organizing and soliciting by the casinos abroad. However, there is a possibility to include the new dimension in the amendment as well. It would include foreign-based online game operators who lure the Chinese citizens with the high-tech offer and confiscate their passports to work for casinos, known gambling customer service sweatshops.
The country is also mulling a new unspecified penalty against the domestic gambling organizers. Due to the COVID19 pandemic, mainland people are not able to travel to Macau, the only Chinese jurisdiction where gambling is allowed.
China is against the cross-border gambling where money flows from China to foreign countries through the fourth party payment processor. On the same line, the Ministry of Public Security issued a warning for illegally opening and selling phones or bank cards for committing telecom crimes and online gambling.
Also on Tuesday, the authorities announced the disruption of a fourth party payment platform that allows a channel for overseas gambling websites in Xinjiang province. The platform is accused of using nearly 100K bank cards to funnel payments from the mainland to overseas.
Police arrested 7 people and froze account worth of RMB32mn.
Source: https://calvinayre.com/2020/10/13/business/china-new-crime-definition-overseas-gambling-casinos/