Emerging Poker Scene in China: Laws, Events, and Venues

Online Poker Legislation in China

Online gambling is also illegal in China, making online poker games essentially dead in the country. There are no Chinese owned or operated poker sites.

Despite this, players have found ways and means to play online. And online operators are becoming more innovative in their offerings by not having “real money” transactions but instead use alternatives that can be converted to cash.

In early 2018, it was rumored that China was considering allowing online gaming, a lottery or sports betting on Hainan Island.

But in June 2018, to the general surprise, a major crackdown – known as Chinese Black Friday -, occurred in China. The government banned all online poker applications, removing them from App Stores, and going as far as forbidding the promotion of Poker on any Social Media. This is a major issue for the Live Event Promoters too, considering that for their Sanya Event, the WSOP had the players qualified through the Tencent Poker app, with satellites running for months leading up to the event.

The Chinese have been well accustomed to getting around censorship, and the use of virtual private networks (VPN) to access the internet is very popular in general because of the Greatwall firewall.

Live Poker Legislation in China

Gambling in China is absolutely illegal.

According to Article 303: “Whoever, for the purpose of profit, gathers people to engage in gambling, runs a gambling house or makes gambling his profession shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or public surveillance and shall also be fined.”

This has been reinforced by President Xi Jinping in 2014 when he declared war on gambling which has affected the whole of the mainland as well as its SARs like Macau & Hong Kong.

However, as gambling is in the culture of the Chinese, locals have found means and ways to be able to gamble without having to violate the law. This especially holds true for the game of poker.

Despite being illegal, this has also not prevented the organization of big live poker tournaments in China. The mainland’s first high-stakes NHLE poker tournament was held in December 2012 at the MGM Grand, Sanya located in Hainan province. In 2014, the Asia Pacific Poker Tour made Beijing one of its stops at the Star Poker club for a 10-day long festival, reinforcing the idea that China could carry the hopes of seeing another poker boom, with a population strong of 1.4 billion souls. In December, 2017, it was WSOP’s turn to organize their very first event in Sanya, Hainan at the Shangri-La Resort & Spa.

Live Poker Venues in China

Foreigners and Chinese are allowed to enter legal poker clubs which are few in China.

Because of the government’s strict rules on gambling, numerous unauthorized games do happen but farther away from the metropolis and far from the eagle eyes of the police. It is said that the more luscious games have moved to Changsa in the Hunan province. The games there are said to be so profitable that it has been named “Little Macau.”  But the risks of getting caught in an illegal game are high in China with the penalty of grave fines and imprisonment.

The Beijing Poker Club (BPC), which was established in 2012, is the longest running and the only legal poker room in Mainland China.