An anti-gambling campaign has forced 84 casinos and small
gambling houses in neighboring countries out of business in the
past two months, reported the Beijing News on Monday.
The casinos, along China's southwestern borders with Myanmar,
Laos and Vietnam, closed down after their business shrank
dramatically due to the work of police in Yunnan province since
last December.
Chinese gamblers were the main patrons in these casinos, most of
which are funded and run by Chinese, the paper quoted an
unidentified local police official in Yunnan as saying.
Authorities in the neighboring countries have banned their
residents from entering these casinos, he added.
With the help of their foreign counterparts, Yunnan police began
to hunt Chinese casino bosses, cutting off banking services, and
prevent gamblers from betting abroad.
Earlier this month the province's government reported that 68
casinos in Myanmar and Laos had closed, and 14 others were
suffering losses and close to closure, while a large number of
Chinese staff in the casinos had been persuaded to return home.
Gambling has long been banned on the Chinese mainland, though it
contributes much to the economy of the Special Administrative
Region of Macao and is also legal in Hong Kong. Lotteries are legal
on the mainland, but they have been blighted with scandals
involving corruption and fixing in the past.
In recent years a growing number of wealthy people from the
mainland, including corrupt officials, have traveled abroad to
gamble millions away in casinos.
The government last week announced it would launch a relentless
fight against gambling, with one of the focuses on preventing
Chinese from squandering money in overseas casinos.
Gambling websites have been shut down, while telephone hotlines
and a website were set up to report gambling. It was also announced
that officials caught gambling abroad would be sacked.
(Xinhua News Agency January 17, 2005)