China on Sunday launched a three-month crackdown on Internet
gambling, with the goal of making the cyber environment a cleaner
and safer space.
"The prevalence of online gaming has ruined the online
environment and damaged the development of the country's youth; it
is in direct opposition to our policy of building a harmonious
society," said a circular jointly issued by the Ministry of Public
Security, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Information
Industry and the State Press and Publication Administration.
Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong and Zhejiang are the focus of supervision efforts,
it said, adding that the government should clamp down on online
games that involve gambling and online betting. Local government
departments should ensure online game service providers are not
exchanging "virtual money" with real currencies or properties, or
using it to launder money.
China's police busted a total of 347,000 gambling cases
involving 1.099 million people last year and retrieved 3.56 billion
yuan (US$445 million) in illegal revenue, according to official
statistics.
Gambling was outlawed on the Chinese mainland in 1949 when New
China was founded.
(Xinhua News Agency February 26, 2007)