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Gambling in China: Laws and Online Gambling

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Online gambling in China: laws and player risks

Elodie explains online casino rules in China, player enforcement evidence, offshore risks and available options. Checked 11 November 2026. AI presenter with an illustrative virtual backdrop.

Video transcript and official sources → · Country video guides →

Published by Casino News Daily editorial teamReviewed byFilip RadulovicOur editorial approach

In mainland China, gambling is prohibited except for two state lotteries, the China Welfare Lottery and the China Sports Lottery, which operate under special authorisation from the State Council. Running a casino, including an online one, is a criminal offence, and since 2021 so is organising Chinese citizens to gamble abroad. Individual gamblers can be detained and fined under public-order law. The Special Administrative Regions of Macau and Hong Kong have separate legal systems: Macau licenses land-based casinos, and Hong Kong permits only authorised betting and lotteries. Neither licenses online casinos, and their arrangements give no permission to gamble online from the mainland.

Key points

Article 303 of the Criminal Law punishes gambling for profit, operating a casino and organising citizens to gamble outside the mainland, with sentences of up to ten years in serious cases.
A 2010 judicial opinion treats running or acting as an agent for a gambling website as “opening a casino”, even where the servers are abroad.
Players face administrative detention of up to 15 days and fines of up to 5,000 yuan under the Public Security Administration Punishments Law, as revised with effect from 1 January 2026.
The only lawful gambling products on the mainland are the welfare and sports lotteries; sales reached 627.97 billion yuan in 2025.
Internet lottery sales have required Ministry of Finance approval since a multi-ministry notice of April 2015.
Macau and Hong Kong have their own gambling laws; both prohibit unlicensed online gambling.

Regional overview: Gambling laws in Asia puts all 33 countries and territories on one map, grouped by how they regulate gambling.

Last reviewed: 5 October 2026.

Historical development

Games of chance have a long history in China, and imperial governments at times restricted them. Modern policy dates from 1949, after which gambling was suppressed as a social ill. The state re-entered the market in a controlled way through lotteries: the welfare lottery and the sports lottery are both issued under authority of the State Council, and the 2009 Lottery Administration Regulations (State Council Decree No. 554) put the system on a consolidated legal footing.

Macau and Hong Kong followed different paths under Portuguese and British administration and retained their own legal systems after their return to Chinese sovereignty in 1999 and 1997 respectively. Their gambling industries are regulated separately from the mainland and are described below.

Since the late 2010s the main policy concern on the mainland has been cross-border gambling: overseas casinos and online platforms soliciting mainland customers, and the outflow of funds that this entails. The Supreme People’s Court has said that “with economic and internet development, the problem of overseas casinos enticing Chinese citizens to engage in gambling has become increasingly prominent” (Supreme People’s Court, January 2025).

Legal framework

Criminal Law

The core criminal provision is Article 303 of the Criminal Law. A summary of the law published by the Chinese Embassy in Kenya in August 2026 sets out three offences:

Gambling: gathering people to gamble for profit, or making gambling one’s occupation, is punishable by up to three years’ imprisonment, criminal detention or public surveillance, plus a fine.
Opening a casino: punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment, or five to ten years in serious cases, plus a fine.
Organising citizens to gamble abroad: organising citizens of the People’s Republic of China to take part in gambling outside the mainland, where the amounts are large or there are other serious circumstances, attracts the same penalties as opening a casino.

The third offence was added by Amendment XI to the Criminal Law, adopted by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on 26 December 2020 and in force from 1 March 2021 (Asia Gaming Brief, December 2020). Analysts cited in that report read “outside the borders” as including Macau and Hong Kong, which matters for junket operators that arrange trips for mainland gamblers. The embassy summary states that the offence covers recruitment through online platforms and apps and the use of virtual currencies or game items as stakes, and that those who provide technical support, payment services or operational help can be prosecuted as accomplices. Funds used for betting and the winnings from it are treated as illegal proceeds liable to forfeiture.

Online gambling as “opening a casino”

In August 2010 the Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security issued joint Opinions on Several Issues concerning the Application of Law in Handling Online Gambling Criminal Cases. They treat the following as “opening a casino”: building a gambling website and accepting bets; creating a site for others to operate; acting as a site’s agent and collecting bets; and taking a share of a gambling platform’s profits. “Serious circumstances” include rake of 30,000 yuan or more, cumulative bets of 300,000 yuan or more, more than 120 participants, and recruiting minors. The place of the crime includes the location of servers, network access points, operators and participants, so hosting a site abroad does not prevent prosecution where operators, agents or participants are within Chinese jurisdiction.

Public-order law

Illustrated China landmarks with reference books and documents for the overview section

Gambling that does not reach the criminal threshold is dealt with under the Public Security Administration Punishments Law. A revised version, adopted by the NPC Standing Committee on 27 June 2025, took effect on 1 January 2026. Article 82 provides that a person who, for profit, provides conditions for gambling, or who takes part in gambling with relatively large stakes, may be detained for up to five days or fined up to 1,000 yuan; in serious cases, detention is 10 to 15 days plus a fine of 1,000 to 5,000 yuan. “Administrative detention” here means short-term detention imposed by the police without a criminal trial.

The lawful lottery monopoly

The mainland’s only lawful gambling products are the two state lotteries. Under the Lottery Administration Regulations, in force since 1 July 2009, the State Council specially authorises the issuance of welfare lotteries and sports lotteries. The Ministry of Finance supervises lotteries nationally, the civil affairs authorities manage the welfare lottery and the sports administration manages the sports lottery. The Regulations forbid issuing or selling foreign lotteries in China, selling tickets to minors, and selling on credit or by instalments. Prizes must be claimed within 60 days of the draw, and unclaimed prizes go to the public welfare fund.

Lottery sales are large. According to the Ministry of Finance, as reported by the General Administration of Sport, national lottery sales in 2025 were 627.969 billion yuan, up 0.7% on 2024, of which the sports lottery accounted for 419.392 billion yuan. Instant (scratch-card) products grew by about 13% during the year.

Online sales are tightly controlled. On 7 April 2015, eight authorities including the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Public Security and the People’s Bank of China issued a notice stopping unauthorised internet lottery sales, stating that “without approval from the Ministry of Finance, no organization or individual may engage in internet lottery sales” (Cyberspace Administration of China, 2015).

Online gambling and enforcement

No mainland authority licenses online casinos or online sports betting by private operators. Online gambling sites that accept mainland customers fall within the “opening a casino” offence described above, as do agents, payment processors and technical service providers that support them. Enforcement focuses on organisers, recruiters, money movers and the networks behind them.

The Supreme People’s Court’s January 2025 report on cross-border gambling illustrates the approach. It published six cases, including one in which the ringleader of a group that organised gambling in Macau, with profits of more than 300 million yuan, was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment, while other members received 30 to 36 months. The court called for strict penalties against organisers and linked gambling debts to fraud and violent crime (Supreme People’s Court).

Position of players

Unlike many jurisdictions where offshore online gambling laws target only operators, mainland law reaches individual gamblers. A person who takes part in gambling with relatively large stakes can be detained and fined under Article 82 of the Public Security Administration Punishments Law, and a person who gambles habitually or for profit can be prosecuted under Article 303 of the Criminal Law. Funds staked and winnings can be confiscated. An offshore licence held by a website is irrelevant to these rules.

Taxation

Because other forms of gambling are unlawful, taxation questions arise mainly for lottery prizes. Lottery winnings are treated as “occasional income” for individual income tax and taxed at 20%. Winnings of up to 10,000 yuan from a single purchase are exempt; a published analysis of a 2023 case explains that where a player buys many identical tickets at once, the exemption is assessed on the aggregate prize (Yicai). Proceeds of unlawful gambling are not taxed but confiscated.

Macau

Macau is the only part of China where casino gaming is lawful. Its framework law is Law 16/2001, amended by Law 7/2022. Six concessions were awarded in December 2022 for a ten-year term from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2032. Concessionaires pay a special gaming tax of 35% of gross gaming revenue plus further contributions, and are supervised by the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ), according to the Chambers Gaming Law 2025 guide for Macau. Gross gaming revenue in 2025 was 247.4 billion patacas, up 9.1% on 2024, according to DICJ figures reported by Macao News.

Online gaming is not licensed in Macau, apart from sports lotteries. The Law to Combat Crimes of Illegal Gambling, in force from 29 October 2024, punishes unauthorised gambling operations, including online gambling, with one to eight years’ imprisonment, and participants in illegal gambling with up to six months (Yogonet, October 2024).

Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, betting is lawful only through authorised channels, and other betting is unlawful under the Gambling Ordinance (Cap. 148). The Hong Kong Police state that anyone who bets with a bookmaker commits an offence liable to a maximum fine of HK$50,000 and nine months’ imprisonment, while bookmaking carries up to HK$5 million and seven years. In a June and July 2026 operation the police arrested 991 people and seized betting records worth HK$365 million (Hong Kong Government press release, 21 July 2026).

Consumer protection and responsible gambling

Secure account login with a padlock and shield On the mainland, consumer protection is built into the lottery rules rather than into a broader licensing system. The Lottery Administration Regulations prohibit sales to minors and on credit and require protection of winners’ personal information. There is no licensed online gambling sector and therefore no self-exclusion system for it. Macau and Hong Kong operate their own responsible gambling programmes for their licensed operators.

General guidance on recognising and managing gambling problems is available in our responsible gambling guide.

Recent and upcoming developments

Public-order law revision (2026). The revised Public Security Administration Punishments Law took effect on 1 January 2026, with higher fines for gambling offences under Article 82.
Cross-border enforcement. The courts and police continue to prioritise cases involving overseas casinos and online platforms targeting mainland residents, as the Supreme People’s Court’s 2025 report and Chinese embassies’ 2026 legal notices show.
Macau. Under the 2022 reform, satellite casinos operating in third-party properties had to close or move into concessionaire-owned premises by 31 December 2025 (Chambers, 2025).
Lottery market. Lottery sales grew only 0.7% in 2025, after strong growth in earlier years, with instant lottery products driving most of the increase.

Sources and further reading

Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Kenya, 我国关于境内（外）赌博的法律法规摘要 (Summary of Chinese laws on domestic and overseas gambling) (11 August 2026).
Supreme People’s Court, Report on cases of organised cross-border gambling (23 January 2025).
State Council, Lottery Administration Regulations (State Council Decree No. 554) (2009).
Yichang Municipal Public Security Bureau, Public Security Administration Punishments Law of the People’s Republic of China (2026 edition) (January 2026).
Supreme People’s Court, Supreme People’s Procuratorate and Ministry of Public Security, Opinions on Several Issues concerning the Application of Law in Handling Online Gambling Criminal Cases (2010), as republished by the Jinjiang Municipal Government.
Asia Gaming Brief, Cross-border casinos, junkets in firing line as China passes amendment to criminal law (30 December 2020).
Cyberspace Administration of China, 多部委联合发布公告叫停互联网销售彩票业务 (Ministries jointly halt internet lottery sales) (7 April 2015).
General Administration of Sport of China, 财政部：2025年全国售彩6279亿元 (Ministry of Finance: national lottery sales of 627.9 billion yuan in 2025) (2026).
Yicai, 2.2亿元彩票中奖应缴纳20%个税 (A 220 million yuan lottery win is subject to 20% income tax) (2023).
Chambers and Partners, Gaming Law 2025: Macau SAR, China (2025).
Macao News, Macao’s 2025 gaming revenue tops 247 billion patacas (2026).
Yogonet, Macau implements new law to crack down on illegal gambling practices (29 October 2024).
Hong Kong SAR Government, Police conduct anti-illegal gambling operation during 2026 FIFA World Cup (21 July 2026).

Casino listings for players in China

The listings below are generated automatically from our casino database. They do not show that an operator is licensed anywhere in China. Offering online casino games to residents of mainland China is not permitted. Taking part in gambling can itself lead to detention and fines, and organising or facilitating it is a crime. The listings must not be read as an indication that playing is lawful. For the official legal position, see the Chinese government’s summary of the gambling laws (in Chinese).

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