Although gambling in China is currently illegal outside of the Special Administrative Region of Macau, there is speculation that the regulations may change, and allow online gaming in China. Although Chinese culture has an extensive history of gambling, and there are modern casino games that people play today that originated in China thousands of years ago, there is a need and desire in China for gambling, whether legal or not. In 2010, it was estimated that roughly $15 billion in gambling took place in China, and it was not legal. Half of that took place online or via a mobile device such as a cell phone or tablet. The people in China that took place in this type of remote, illegal gambling were estimated to be more than 500 million. This highlights the need and demand for gaming in China, but it may still be a long time before online gambling is legal in the country.
With so many online gaming operations available, each of them are looking at China as an excellent opportunity to improve and expand their software empires. Although it may be several years before online gambling is legal in China, as of May of this year, there were over 1 billion cell phone users, 150 million 3G users, and 400 million mobile Internet users that gamble online. In China, there are over 500 million broadband Internet users, and this accounts for just under 40% of China’s population. To provide comparison, currently the United States only has 245 million broadband Internet users. This accounts for roughly 75% of the entire population, with 140,000 cafés and bars with more than 14 million computers, each of which average about 11 hours of constant use every day. Most of these people use these cafés and bars for online gambling.
Although China’s Internet users do not spend nearly as much time online each day, it is speculated that there may be online gambling regulations that will slowly but surely be enforced. This could definitely turn the tide in politics, bringing additional lotteries, horseracing, bingo and other types of gambling in China, and it is hoped to begin sometime next year. With the online gaming industry identifying an extraordinary potential in China, there are many software developers that are curing themselves for the Chinese market, despite the fact that the regulations have not even begun the debate process. Others are establishing partnerships with Chinese companies, preparing for legalization of online gambling in China. This is a spectacular potential opportunity for many people, as legalizing online gambling in China will provide a variety of economic benefits to China as well as around the world. Although it is still up in the air, it is anticipated that within the next few years online gambling will be legal in China, and there are a number of Internet gambling software developers that are poised and ready to join this extensive market. Although time will tell, the look is extremely positive that given China’s extensive cultural history of gambling, legalization of online gambling is not far away.