China cracks down on online gambling

[Rollo]

No rest for the weary... it looks like China is joining the US and Israel. This may put a big damper on the Asian strategy for a lot of companies.

http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/article...sid=54&sid=BUS

Beijing, Feb 26: China has launched a new crackdown on popular Internet gambling and to 'purify' the cyber environment.

"The prevalence of online gaming has ruined the online environment and harmed young people's growth, which runs against the policy of building a harmonious society," said a circular jointly issued by the ministry of public security, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Information Industry and the state press and publication administration.

Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong and Zhejiang are key places to be targeted during the three-month-long drive, it said, adding the government should clamp down on online games that involve gambling and online betting.

It said local government departments should strictly supervise online game service providers who are not allowed to exchange "virtual money" with real currencies or properties, or use it to launder money.

China's police busted a total of 347,000 gambling cases involving 1.099 million people last year and retrieved 3.56 billion yuan (USD 445 million), according to official statistics.

Gambling was outlawed on the Chinese mainland in 1949.

[lojo]

Mainland business deals work like this don't they? 1/2 to the communist government, 1/2 to the 'free enterprise'; regardless of the nationality of the company.
From a purely economic standpoint, it's easy to see why they will not allow yuan to escape the vigorish. I won't speculate on the culture control or 'moral' issue there. But I doubt it is the same dynamic as in the USA.
If it were, Macau would be giving proceeds to the Mainland.
B&M would benefit from an online ban enforcement.

Nah, they just want to build a Harmonious Society free of the immorallity of gambling. Yeah, that's it. And control their currency.

[spearmaster]

China does this periodically - usually once every 12-18 months. I don't think it can be compared to what has happened in the US and Israel.

[lojo]

It is easy to see the corelates though. Of course I'm speculating because I don't know the economic workings of the 'one country two systems' deals. But IF macau pays 'tribute' to the Mainland... ahh never mind, I wasn't suggesting it was a unified conspiracy theory - just that the 'model' could fit. I can study more and talk less, but there's only so much time in the day

I honestly don't know anything about the Israeli gambling situation, I ignorantly assumed Israelis were banned by the casinos because of fraud and syndicated 'runs' on assets, systems, whatever. I guess I assumed that by reading the T&C of some casinos awhile ago.

I've been playing online for a little over a year, and never visited a forum or valid info portal before I signed up here. The developments in Asia are fascinating to me for several reasons. Watching the markets yesterday for one...