China starts a new crackdown on online gambling

China continues to try to exert control over the modern media (the internet) by targeting online gambling in addition to pornography and YouTube. Gambling has been illegal in China since 1949 when the Communist Party took over but as anyone who frequents a casino will know, the Chinese love their gambling and the legislation only drove everything underground. Now no less than 8 Government bodies including the Central Bank, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Supreme Court. The Ministry of Public Security and the Propaganda Bureau are getting together for a 6 month purge on online gambling which the Government says “has caused large cash outflows from the country and seriously disturbed social and economic order”. As well as the Internet operators that provide access to the gambling sites, the crackdown will also involve targeting underground banks and other payment platforms that provide cash services.

China has a huge population with an estimated total of possibly 400 million internet users that are already censored using a system known as the Great Firewall of China and this latest move will merely fuel the fire of the critics who will argue that this is just a latest move to prevent any challenges to the Communist party. Despite promising severe punishment for those caught, it remains to be seen whether this will prevent the Chinese gambling; we doubt it.