China to crack down on foreign casinos seeking Chinese gamblers

NagaCorp

06/02/2015 04:51

BEIJING, Feb 6 (Reuters) - China will fight attempts by 
foreign casinos to lure its citizens abroad, a senior police 
official said on Friday, which could deal a blow to the gaming 
firms in Macau and Asian countries that rely on these punters 
for most of their revenue. 
    Chinese, among the world's most prolific gamblers, often 
travel to the Chinese territory of Macau, South Korea, the 
Philippines or Australia, as gambling is illegal in mainland 
China, except for heavily regulated state-sanctioned lotteries   
    Hua Jingfeng, a deputy bureau chief at the Ministry of 
Public Security, said illegal gambling remained a problem even 
though the government was "forcefully keeping it in check".  
    "Some foreign countries see our nation as an enormous 
market, and we have investigated a series of cases," Hua told 
reporters, according to a transcript on state media websites.  
    "A fair number of neighbouring countries have casinos, and 
they have set up offices in China to attract and drum up 
interest from Chinese citizens to go abroad and gamble. This 
will also be an area that we will crack down on." 
    He did not elaborate. Paradise Co  034230.KQ , Las Vegas 
Sands  LVS.N , Wynn Resorts  WYNN.O , MGM Resorts  MGM.N , 
Galaxy Entertainment  0027.HK , SJM Holdings  0880.HK  and Melco 
Crown  MPEL.O  are some of the operators that depend on Chinese 
gamblers. 
    Chinese President Xi Jinping's protracted crackdown on 
corruption and conspicuous spending has kept wealthy Chinese 
gamblers away from Macau, the world's biggest gambling hub, 
where revenues last year plummeted to their worst level since 
the industry was liberalised in 2001. 
    At the same time, casino operators around Asia have been 
aggressively courting Chinese gamblers, with many relying on 
Macau or mainland junkets to lure high rollers. 
    Casinos are not allowed to legally advertise in mainland 
China, but operators have skirted around the issue by promoting 
the resorts where the casinos are located. 
    Hua said the government was also seeking to crack down on a 
"small number" of police and government officials who are guilty 
of collusion in covering up gambling and providing an umbrella 
of protection for it. 
    Last year hundreds of people were detained in the southern 
city of Dongguan, which lies close to Hong Kong, in a sweep 
against prostitution and gambling dens. 
 
 (Reporting by Beijing newsroom; Writing by Ben Blanchard; 
Editing by Miral Fahmy) 
 ((ben.blanchard@thomsonreuters.com; +86 10 6627 1201; Reuters 
Messaging: ben.blanchard.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: CHINA GAMBLING/