Under the new Chinese gambling laws, “anyone who establishes or runs a gambling den can face up to three years in jail and fines” according to the official Chinese news agency Xinhua. For serious offenses, a sentence of up to 10 years in prison may be handed down. “Serious offenses” are defined as those involving total commissions of over 30,000 Chinese yuan (about $4,460) or total volume of over 300,000 yuan; of over 120 gamblers; or in sharing profits from a gambling website of over 30,000 yuan.
The law and its penalties apply to “anyone who establishes a gambling website and takes bets; establishes a gambling website and provides it to others to organize gambling; acts as an agent for a gambling website and takes bets; or shares profits with gambling websites.”
The new law says nothing about enforcement overseas of foreign-based casino operators, but probably the safest thing for most parties would be to play at established online casinos serving Chinese customers.
