Taiwan has become the latest Asian nation to reveal plans to crack down on online gambling in recent months.
Taiwanese lawmakers introduced earlier this month a draft amendment to the nation’s existing gambling law in a bid to criminalize online gambling and impose higher penalties on individual gamblers caught breaking the rules.
The Ministry of Justice published on September 10 a draft amendment to Article 266 of Taiwan’s Criminal Code. Under the amendment, any Taiwanese citizen who uses “telecommunications equipment, electronic communications, internet or other similar means” to gamble commits a crime and can face a penalty of up to NT$50,000 (approx. $1,612).
If adopted, the amendment will close a loophole in the nation’s current gambling law that makes it difficult for local authorities to punish anyone who gambles online. Under Taiwan’s current gambling law, anyone caught gambling “in a public place or a place open to the public” is required to pay a NT$1,000 (approx. $32) fine. However, this provision was adopted in 1994 and predates the existence of digital gambling.
According to reports from local media, the Ministry of Justice was prompted to introduce the proposed changes to Taiwan’s current regulatory framework after several court cases that involved individuals caught gambling online were overturned on appeal.
The nation’s Supreme Court ruled that gambling websites were not “public” or “open” spaces under Taiwan’s current law and that legislators should change the wording if they wanted to bring gamblers to court for their violations.
Asia Cracks Down on Online Gambling
State-run lotteries are pretty much the only legal gambling activity on the territory of Taiwan. These activities include numeric draw games and the nation’s sports lottery. However, the loophole in Taiwan’s gambling law has made it easier for online gambling operators servicing Asian customers to target Taiwanese nationals.
The nation’s Ministry of Justice said that with the widespread use of technology and the Internet, anyone with the right equipment could easily engage in online gambling activities. This ultimately had a negative impact on the society and led to growth in gambling addiction.
Taiwan is the latest Asian nation to take actions against online gambling in recent months. Last month, the Prime Minister of Cambodia, Hun Sen, signed a directive that aimed to crack down on online gaming and betting operations conducted on the territory of his country.
Under the directive, “the Royal Government of Cambodia will stop the issuance of online gambling policy and licenses, both within and outside the Kingdom of Cambodia.” Lawmakers said last month that they wanted to act against foreign criminals who “have taken refuge in the form of [online] gambling to cheat and extort money from victims, domestic and abroad.”
Cambodian nationals are prohibited from gambling online, but the large concentration of online gambling firms in the country has inevitably lured locals to their gambling websites.
It was in August again when the Philippine gambling regulator, PAGCOR, announced that it would stop accepting applications for offshore gambling (POGO) licenses until issues relating to the country’s online gaming and betting licensing system were “reviewed and comfortably addressed.”
China praised the Philippines for its decisions and urged the country to ban online gambling altogether. However, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, despite his proverbial dislike of gambling, said that his country would not ban online gambling as such an action against the sector would harm the local economy.
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