A weekend announcement by authorities in Hainan Province that the local law on Prohibition of Gambling has been abolished does not pave the way for legalized gambling, analysts have affirmed.
A total of 14 laws and regulations were officially shot down on Sunday, with the abolishment of Hainan’s Prohibition of Gambling and Prohibition of Prostitution attracting most attention.
But rather than opening the door for horse racing or casino gambling, the move has been described by JP Morgan analysts as a “non-event” given that national laws supersede local laws.
Instead, the investment bank described such abolitions as “very common practice by local provinces across the country in the past two years, in an attempt to clean up unnecessary local regulations and to promote the Constitution as suggested by the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party in 2017.”
Shanghai, Fujian, Sichuan, Liaoning and Yunnan are among the provinces to have previously abolished a local ban on gambling, JP Morgan said, adding, “We’ve been, and still are, of the view that Macau will remain as the only legalized casino jurisdiction in China for the foreseeable future.”
