China experiencing boom in soccer betting

  • Posted on: 16 July 2016

With soccer continuing to develop in China, soccer betting is also experiencing a boom. More and more people are turning to online betting sites to gamble.


However, this has also given rise to illegal gambling online.

Illegal gambling in China is mostly done through messaging apps such as WeChat and Alibaba apps. Given that online gambling is illegal in China, it is very difficult to get accurate information from gamblers. They said that most of the gambles are done through the use of messaging apps and that the payments are distributed by money transfer services such as bank transfer, Alipay or WeChat.

The police is struggling to cope with this surge in illegal gambling online as they need to have the technological as well as the financial resources to crack down on the illegal use of these apps.

With the Euros 2016 held in France, the Chinese police have reported that they have seen an increase in illegal transaction online. So far the police have stated that they have seized $15 million and arrested 147 people. The Chinese authorities have also announced that they have arrested 236 people for participating in illegal betting.

Apps publishers have assured that they have security checks in place to prevent their apps from being used as a gambling tool. WeChat owners Tencent said that they are aware of their apps being used for online gambling and that they are reinforcing measures to prevent this from happening.

Alibaba, who is the owner of Alipay, said that they also have a system in place to prevent their fund transfer service from being used in gambling-related activities. They have computer system in place to review each transfer and that they are also human checks that are done regularly.