China vows to accelerate fight against cross-border gambling

February 17, 2022 China Crime & Legal

China’s Ministry of Public Security has vowed to continue the nation’s fight against cross-border gambling, issuing a strongly worded statement following a special meeting on the subject this week.

The Ministry said it would “continue to advance the work of combating cross-border gambling in depth, resolutely curbing cross-border gambling chaos and striving to create a safe and stable political and social environment for the successful convening of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China,” which is set to take place in the northern hemisphere autumn of 2022.

In particular, the Ministry outlined a plan to “completely destroy” networks of foreign “mega-gambling groups”, seemingly a reference to Macau’s junkets. The statement cited China’s success in shutting down such cross-border gambling groups in 2021, referencing the destruction of “the A Group of extraordinarily large cross-border gambling gangs” which it said had been recruiting citizens for gambling purposes and sucking money out of China. This appears to be a reference to Suncity Group, which shut down its junket business in December following the arrest and detention of its CEO, Alvin Chau.

According to the Ministry, 2022 will see a centralized nationwide effort against cross-border gambling with “cluster strikes against major cases”. It also promised to improve a previously announced blacklist of overseas tourism destinations said to be luring Chinese citizens for gambling purposes.