Shanghai police announced on October 26, 2022 that Baoshan district officers carried out coordinated arrests in several parts of the city on July 21, breaking up a cross-border online gambling ring whose members bet through live video feeds from overseas casinos1. More than 150 gang members were detained, including four domestic agents, lower level agents, a runner and all identified bettors, according to the Shanghai Public Security Bureau1.
The Baoshan group obtained gambling website accounts from outside China and set up cameras inside overseas casinos to stream play online, letting bettors wager against real dealers as if they were present in the casino1. Police verified case flow of more than RMB 100 million and seized more than RMB 2 million in involved funds1.
The announcement covered several cross-border cases handled during a national "hundred day action" campaign.
In a separate case, Minhang police moved against a group in the early hours of July 27 in three districts of Shanghai plus Zhejiang, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces, arresting more than 40 people including a suspect surnamed Feng on suspicion of running a casino and a gambler surnamed Shao1. That group promoted a supposed "safe environment," offered services such as betting on a customer's behalf, and developed 11 lines of third tier agents, with gambling fund flow in the tens of millions of yuan1. Police seized 33 mobile phones and 12 computers1.
A third case involved an app built around esports and sports events, with police describing a chain running from an overseas betting data company as the "source" through a domestic data access company, an odds operation company, the app operator and third party settlement channels1. Raids across Shanghai and Hainan, Guangdong, Shaanxi and Zhejiang brought in more than 100 people; more than 50 have been sentenced for the crime of running a casino and more than 40 given administrative penalties1.
"宝山警方于7月21日在本市多地开展集中抓捕"
What it means for players
The Baoshan case shows that live-streamed table games run through overseas casino feeds are treated as gambling inside China, and that police pursued not only organizers but every identified bettor in the group1. China's penalties for gambling apply to players as well as operators, and the Shanghai figures include more than 1,100 gamblers punished during the campaign1. Anyone in China, including visitors and foreign residents, faces the same enforcement framework described in China's gambling penalties and the wider question of whether you can gamble in China.
The Minhang case is a reminder that agents advertising a "safe" route to overseas betting were themselves the target of the investigation, and that betting through an agent who places wagers on your behalf does not remove the legal exposure1. The esports and sports betting app case shows that products styled as prediction or quiz games with real money stakes were treated as gambling operations1.
What happens next
The Shanghai announcement gives no further scheduled steps for the Baoshan case beyond the July 21 arrests and the seizure figures1. In the esports app case, more than 50 people have already been sentenced for running a casino and more than 40 given administrative penalties, with no additional hearings reported1.
Sources1 sources
- 上海破获多起跨境网络赌博案 收缴资金资产1.7亿余元, gaj.sh.gov.cn
