Chinese police cracked more than 3,500 cross-border gambling cases, arrested more than 75,000 criminal suspects, busted over 2,260 online gambling platforms, 1,160 gambling promotion platforms and busted around 1,960 illegal payment platforms and underground banks during operations in 2020, according to the Ministry of Public Security of China.
“More than 600 Chinese suspects were brought back to China from abroad by Chinese police in collaboration with their counterparts in countries including the Philippines, Malaysia, Myanmar and Vietnam,” said the Ministry in a statement posted on its website last week.
“Chinese police will maintain a tough stance against cross-border gambling,” it added, warning the public of “the fraudulent nature and serious harm of cross-border gambling.” It also asked them to “consciously boycott overseas or online gambling” and to “actively report the clues and information involved in cross-border gambling.”
China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange also held the 2021 National Foreign Exchange Management Work Video Conference weekly which saw six key tasks arranged for foreign exchange management in 2021, the priority being the prevention of abnormal cross-border capital flows.
China’s recent crackdown on cross-border gambling has included the announcement of a blacklist of overseas tourist destinations it said were disrupting the nation’s outbound tourism market by opening casinos targeting mainland Chinese customers.
The National People’s Congress also passed last month an amendment to its criminal law that will, from 1 March 2021, create a new crime against cross-border casinos found to be organizing or soliciting Chinese citizens to gamble and increase penalties for those found guilty of serious breaches.
