Open casinos with a high incidence of crime, beware of traps

Recently, the "crime of opening a casino" has attracted attention. According to the supreme people's procuratorate, the crime of opening a new type of casino shows a high incidence. Judging from the case-handling data, in the first three quarters of this year, the national procuratorial organs prosecuted 13,329 people for crimes related to foreign countries (borders) (foreign-related crimes, Hong Kong and Macao-related crimes), of which 1,376 people were guilty of opening casinos, accounting for 10.32%, ranking second only to the crime of sneaking across the national (border) border. Such crimes are varied, new in their methods, and highly concealed, and criminals use the Internet to engage in the black and ash industry, open casinos in the name of board games, and seize huge economic benefits and even endanger economic security. According to Miao Shengming, director of the First Procuratorate of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the crime of opening a casino has many factors involving foreign countries (territory) compared with other crimes. In various names, lawless elements often rely on casinos in neighboring countries and regions to solicit and gamble on Chinese citizens, organize Chinese citizens to gamble abroad, and some of the people who go abroad to participate in gambling have a huge amount of bets, resulting in a huge outflow of funds.

Judging from the relevant cases, the crime of opening a new type of casino is relatively deceptive and concealed. The criminal chain is long, there are many people involved in the case, and the tendency of criminal grouping is obvious. Some of the gambling websites previously seized had hundreds of thousands of registered members, and some even involved various provincial-level regions of the country.

"Some will package online chess and card software and APP, and lure others into the gambling trap step by step in the form of entertainment and rebates." Peng Xinlin, deputy secretary-general of the China Society of Criminal Law and researcher of the Academy of Criminal and Legal Sciences of Beijing Normal University, analyzed that these cross-border gambling criminal groups often have a "pyramid" organizational structure within themselves, forming an online gambling industry chain.

"Using the internet to open a casino can get rid of the limitations of time, space, personnel and other factors, reduce the cost of casino owners, and have huge profits." Liu Xiaofeng, director of Beijing Huaxiang Law Firm, said that lawbreakers have adopted a professional division of labor and deliberately cut off the gambling chain, making it difficult for judicial organs to discover and collect evidence when cracking down on related crimes. Peng Xinlin said that compared with domestic gambling and offline gambling, the concealment, intelligence and deception of cross-border online gambling are becoming more and more prominent.

Specifically, or with high bonuses and high winning rates as a gimmick, lure gambling participants to join, or even attract gamblers to participate in gambling abroad through free road fees and accommodation fees; or artificially manipulate the background to modify the winning rate, kill large and lose small; or set a high cash threshold, even if you win money, you also need to reach a certain amount of money to withdraw, and after reaching a certain amount, you need to play enough time and times to withdraw, often before meeting the withdrawal requirements, the money is lost.

In view of the characteristics of the current crime of opening casinos, the Supreme People's Procuratorate requires procuratorial organs in all localities to further strengthen overall planning and coordination in handling cases, handle cases strictly in accordance with the law, and severely crack down on the crime of opening casinos in accordance with the law.

"For the criminal activities of opening casinos carried out by cross-border gambling criminal groups, the general governance policy is to take multiple measures at the same time, combine dredging and blocking, and comprehensively deal with them. Of course, criminal sanctions are a very important part of this. Peng Xinlin believes that based on the serious social harm of cross-border gambling, especially cross-border online gambling, and the high amount of money involved, it is proposed to amend the relevant legislation of the Criminal Law on gambling crimes and casino opening crimes to increase the punishment of gambling crimes.

Peng Xinlin suggested that the legal application standards for cross-border gambling cases should be further clarified, such as the introduction of relevant judicial interpretations and the issuance of guiding cases by the highest judicial organs, etc., and clarify the rules of adjudication for the application of law in such cases to ensure the uniformity of the application of law.

In addition, to punish cross-border gambling, especially cross-border online gambling, it is necessary for relevant parties, including network service providers, operators, third-party payment institutions, etc., to carry out comprehensive management, actively carry out publicity and education activities on the rule of law to prevent cross-border gambling, etc., so that the masses can consciously resist going abroad or participating in gambling online, and continuously improve their awareness of prevention.

For ordinary people, how to distinguish between "entertainment" and "gambling" to stay away from gambling traps?

"Put simply, as long as you don't get blindfolded by false propaganda and don't believe that you can make money while entertaining, you won't fall into this kind of trap." Zhang Xiaojin, deputy director of the First Procuratorate of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, said that when using board game software online, it is necessary to download and use it from regular channels. Suspected gambling game software, there is a significant feature, that is, has the relevant withdrawal function, if you find that you can withdraw cash or obtain valuable physical goods such as software, applications, please do not use, and timely report to the public security organs.

Economic Daily reporter Li Wanxiang, original title "Beware of online gambling traps"

Source: Economic Daily