In China and federal legislators are reportedly considering a number of measures that would bring in stiffer penalties for any firms or individuals found guilty of soliciting citizens into gambling overseas.
According to a story from Inside Asian Gaming citing an earlier report from the state-run China News Service, the amendments to the country’s criminal code have already had their first reading by a standing committee of the National People’s Congress with a second scheduled for later in the week. The source detailed that such drafts are commonly considered three times before becoming law with this batch due to specifically target casino operators or agents that seek to lure mainland Chinese citizens into gambling abroad.
Additional aspects:
The Xinhua news agency reportedly explained that other revisions being similarly considered would lower the age of criminal responsibility for a selection of violent offenses and revise the way crimes such as identity theft, rape, indecency and food and drug malpractice are handled.
Continuing clamp-down:
China has reportedly long been attempting to crack-down on its citizens going abroad to gamble with the giant nation’s Culture and Tourism Ministry having established a ‘blacklist’ of overseas tourist destinations in August. The government is purportedly thought to believe that such overseas locations disrupt the local tourism market and lead to large amounts of domestic currency flowing out of the country.
Relaxed recuperation:
The attraction of gambling in foreign locales is moreover reportedly being blamed for the continuing slow post-coronavirus recovery of the casino market in Macau despite the Chinese government’s move to reinstate the issuing of both group travel and Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) visas on a nationwide basis from September 23.
Junket jinx:
Finally, Inside Asian Gaming reported that an October 1 note from Credit Suisse AG declared that related crack-downs on shadow banking as well as a ban on some gambling activities had negatively impacted the junket system in Macau by driving down sentiment amongst potential high-value players. The same financial institution purportedly later revealed that the first two weeks of October had seen average spend from such aficionados drop by at least a third.