Beijing to expand blacklist of overseas gambling destinations for Chinese tourists
- Travel restrictions on places where Chinese go to gamble were first imposed in August
- List has not been made public, but Southeast Asian countries like the Philippines, Myanmar, Malaysia and Vietnam are all hotspots
Beijing will add more overseas gambling destinations to its travel blacklist for Chinese nationals as it clamps down on an activity that it says sees an estimated 1 trillion yuan (US$155 billion) of capital outflows annually.
The restrictions aim to “better regulate the tourism market and safeguard the lives and property of Chinese citizens”, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced on its website on Tuesday.
The blacklist – introduced in August by the tourism, public security and foreign ministries – puts travel restrictions on places where Chinese go to gamble. The tourism ministry said more destinations would be added to the list soon, without elaborating.
While the list has not been made public, destinations in the Philippines, Myanmar, Malaysia and Vietnam are all hotspots for Chinese gamblers. Both the tourism and foreign ministries declined to give details of the blacklist when contacted by the South China Morning Post.
“Gambling houses in the Philippines, Myanmar and other neighbouring countries have been attracting Chinese citizens recklessly in recent years,” Liao Jinrong, international cooperation bureau chief at the Ministry of Public Security, told a forum in Beijing in September.
“Cross-border gambling is often linked with organised gangs, financial fraud, abduction and trafficking, and illegal immigration,” he said. “Many overseas gambling houses also have detailed information about Chinese entrepreneurs, which poses a huge threat to their safety.”