The stakes were high for teams that were fighting for the World Cup championship. The winner can take it all – the glory, the pride and a whopping prize money of $35 million. But the football teams are not the only ones who had their eyes on the game. The illegal gambling bettors and bookmakers in China who had wagered millions on the game were glued to the television anticipating big payouts.

The Ministry of Public Security said 108 people were arrested for illegal online gambling involving a total value of RMB 18 billion after busting a gambling ring in Lianyungang in Jiangsu Province, Xinhua reported on July 12.

The ring operates in eight different provinces including Guangdong, Jiangsu, Fujian and Gansu Provinces through an overseas online gambling website whose server address is tracked to Philippines. According to the report, the website hired bookies and bookmakers in China to take online bets and commissions, and the gambling bets were particularly frequent during the World Cup.

The bettors were able to directly access the website and place bets. The website would calculate the wins and losses and earn commissions from the bets, the report said. The website also introduced a “super membership scheme” for members who placed a deposit worth RMB 200,000.

In June alone, the ring earned RMB 200 million in profit as the football tournament kicked off in the same month.

All forms of gambling, including the lottery, were considered capitalist practices and were banned in 1949. Only the state lottery is now allowed to operate. The ministry has prosecuted 7,267 gambling related cases and arrested 23,000 people since the start of the year.

Photos: Nandu; Getty Images

Students at the university say the victim is a second-year student that had previously made bets on the World Cup, but his identity has not yet been verified.

Eyewitness Xiao Cai said the incident happened yesterday morning at around 10 o’clock. Xiao was on the sixth floor of the front wing of the Weiyi building when she saw the victim on seventh-floor roof of the back wing sitting on a chair and talking on the phone.

Despite being over 50 meters away from her, Xiao said she was able to hear everything the man said because he was in an excited state. According to Xiao, she heard the man say phrases like “Don’t force me” and “Give me two more days.”

Xiao explained what happened next:

He spoke on the phone for over ten minutes. I saw that he stood up after hanging up the phone, and then all of a sudden he disappeared. This made me very afraid. I hurried downstairs and discovered that he had jumped.

The victim was reportedly sent to the hospital, but succumbed to his injuries.

Students at the university revealed in a video interview that online betting is popular among students, especially at World Cup time. After making bets online, transactions can be completed using a third-party e-commerce system like Alipay.

In other World Cup gambling news, authorities in Macau recently busted a World Cup gambling ring worth approximately $645 million.

Related:

• Guangzhou Workers Get Time Off To Watch The World Cup
• Fake Sick Leave Notices Sell for RMB 100 as Fans Stay Home for World Cup
• PRD’s Contribution to the World Cup: Footballs and Condoms

Photo: Dongguan Times

Sorry, Danny Ocean with Chinese characteristics: the gig is up.

Macau has just announced changes to its entry requirements to deter mainland high-rollers from coming to the territory. Starting on July 1, mainland visitors holding a Chinese passport in transit will only be allowed to stay a maximum of five days, down from an original seven, according to Bloomberg.

READ: Guangdong Residents Can Now Visit
Hong Kong and Macau with Their Fingerprints

However, some critics of the plan point out that the change won’t actually succeed at what it’s supposed to accomplish. Jose Pereira Coutinho, a directly elected legislator in the 33-member Legislative Assembly, said, ”It won’t help resolve the existing problem for some mainland visitors to travel to Macau without traveling to another destination.” In other words, they can still get a lot of gambling done in the new five-day period.

The last time Macau made changes to its entry requirements was in 2008 when it shortened the maximum stay from 14 days to seven. As well, mainland tourists that re-enter Macau within 30 days of their previous stay will only be allowed to stay one day, down from two days.

Additionally, China UnionPay has promised to clamp down on illegal payments made with handheld devices in Macau gambling establishments, an amount analysts say was worth billions last year.

Related:

• Macau Buckles Under the Weight of Mainland Tourists, Considering Limiting Visitors
• New 24-Hour Border Crossing Between Zhuhai and Macau Proposed

Photo: deltabridges

The reason? The workers have been playing cards for money with friends and family, Southern Metropolis Daily reports.

The first such case reported was on January 25 in Longchuan, a predominantly Hakka county to the north of Heyuan. On that day, neither the land and resources department nor the judicial department opened and no explanation was given.

Another such case was on January 29 in Leizhou when several government departments did not open. An investigation showed that the workers were playing cards for money with family and colleagues.

An opinion piece in Shenzhen Daily last year lamented that the popularity of cushy government jobs was killing the entrepreneurial spirit of young Chinese.

This is the latest case of investigative journalism holding government workers to account. The Guangzhou-based Southern Metropolis Daily was known for such journalism around the time of SARS 10 years ago. One such incident led to editor-in-chief Cheng Yizhong being jailed and coming out severely disillusioned about the influence the media could have over the government.

But the millions of mainlanders that pour over the border each year are causing the same problems in Macau that they cause in Hong Kong: namely, they put a severe strain on local infrastructure.

Tourism chiefs have announced a series of measures including looking at a quota on the number of tourists going into the territory and showcasing its less well-known attractions to offset the traffic the most popular attractions get. A review of Macau’s individual visitor scheme is also underway to look at ways of stemming the flow of tourists.

Reducing the number of people who can enter Macau would likely have a positive effect on the border immigration process, which is known for its marathon-long queues. At the moment, 28 million people visit the gambling enclave each year.

Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, the director of Macau Government Tourist Office, told SCMP:

“We will see how we can, through booklets, maps and signage, direct visitors from [the worst crowded] tourist areas to nearby places that are also rich in historical and cultural colour.”

When asked about slapping limits or quotas on the number of tourists, Ms Fernandes refused to comment or rule out the idea, which was initially put forward by the Macau Policy Research Office, a think tank in the territory.

In reaction to the current situation, a new 24-hour border crossing is being proposed to cope with future demand.

The move would alleviate the stress of transiting through Gongbei Port, which has become a key rail hub for high-speed trains to Guangzhou and beyond.

Image: Danny Lee

It looks like anger management, and possibly mental illness, has resulted in another heinous crime.

A 75-year-old grandmother living in Dongguan lost her head, and her life, after getting into a war of words with her grandson Li Yaojing, 26, over his gambling addiction.

It’s reported that Zhan Cuixia went over to her grandson’s house to look after him – because his parents were working at the time.

Here is some more detail in China Press as reported by The Star:

The body of Zhan Cuixia and her severed head were found in the bathroom of her son’s house in Dongguan of China’s Guangdong province, some 10 minutes’ walk from her own home.

What’s not clear at the moment is whether there is a mental health issue attributed to the story – as all to often seen in the most notable murders.

The murder will be a painful experience for Zhan’s daughter who witnessed her nephew attack her mother.

“She was struggling on the ground and shouting for help, but I couldn’t open the door to go in and save her,” she said, adding that she sought help from neighbours, who said they heard the grandmother and grandson arguing over his gambling habit earlier.

This case echoes a similar story of a guy killing the owners of an internet cafe and setting fire to their shop, burning the bodies, too, after the internet dropped. Needless to say an argument ensued – and the rest is history.

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