Online Casinos in China

The Legal Position on the Mainland

Online casino play is prohibited in mainland China. Article 303 of the Criminal Law punishes gathering people to gamble, or making a profession of gambling, for profit with up to three years' imprisonment, criminal detention or controlled release and a fine; it punishes operating a gambling house with up to five years, rising to five to ten years where the circumstances are serious; and it punishes organising Chinese citizens to gamble outside the mainland under the same provision where the amounts are very large or there are other serious circumstances.

That article reaches websites. The Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security issued a joint opinion on the law applicable to online gambling cases, and the Supreme People's Court's own commentary on it records the rule that building a gambling website, or acting as an agent for a gambling website and accepting bets, is what the Criminal Law means by operating a gambling house. A judicial interpretation of Article 303 states the same thing in terms: setting up a gambling website on a computer network, or acting as its agent and accepting bets, falls within “开设赌场”. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs states the position without qualification: “According to Chinese laws, any form of gambling, including online gambling and overseas gambling by Chinese citizens, is illegal.”

Participants, Not Only Operators

The Public Security Administration Punishments Law, revised in 2025 and in force from 1 January 2026, provides at Article 82 that providing conditions for gambling for profit, or taking part in gambling with a relatively large stake, is punishable by up to five days' administrative detention or a fine of up to 1,000 yuan, and by ten to fifteen days' detention together with a fine of 1,000 to 5,000 yuan where the circumstances are serious. The Supreme People's Court's commentary draws the line explicitly: lesser conduct breaches that law, graver conduct breaches the Criminal Law. A judicial interpretation also provides that recreation not carried on for profit, involving only small sums, is not treated as gambling.

Enforcement has reached participants as well as organisers. The Ministry of Public Security, reporting on the cross-border gambling campaign, addresses both people who supply illegal services to cross-border gambling and people who take part in it, telling them to give themselves up rather than count on luck. The same account records that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism maintains a blacklist of cross-border gambling tourist destinations, and that the National Immigration Administration maintains an exit-and-entry control blacklist of people involved in gambling.

The scale is published. The Ministry of Public Security said Chinese police cracked more than 37,000 cases involving cross-border gambling in 2022, and that operations nationwide that year busted over 2,600 online gambling platforms, more than 1,100 casinos and more than 2,500 illegal payment platforms and underground banks.

What the State Does Permit

The Lottery Administration Regulations, State Council Order No. 554, were adopted at the State Council's 58th executive meeting on 22 April 2009 and took effect on 1 July 2009. They provide that the State Council specially licenses the welfare lottery and the sports lottery, that issuing any other lottery without that special licence is prohibited, and that issuing or selling foreign lotteries inside the People's Republic of China is prohibited. A joint announcement by the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and other central departments resolutely prohibits the unauthorised sale of lottery tickets over the internet, and the Ministry of Finance has so far approved no lottery institution to sell lottery tickets online.

Hong Kong and Macao

The two special administrative regions legislate for gambling themselves, and the mainland position above does not describe them. In Hong Kong, the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau states that under the Gambling Ordinance (Cap. 148) all gambling activities are illegal except those expressly authorised by the Government under the Betting Duty Ordinance (Cap. 108), those licensed by public officers appointed by the Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs, and those exempted under section 3 of the Gambling Ordinance; Hong Kong has its own page here. In Macao, the Chief Executive signed a concession agreement on operating games of luck in casinos with each of six awardees, effective 1 January 2023 for ten years. No source read for this sheet licenses online casino play in either region, and neither region is treated here as part of the mainland market.

What Is Available Instead

Two state lotteries, and neither of them online. The Lottery Administration Regulations provide that the State Council specially licenses the welfare lottery and the sports lottery, and the Ministry of Finance has so far approved no lottery institution to sell lottery tickets over the internet. Macao and Hong Kong legislate for gambling themselves and are not treated here as part of the mainland market.