All is not well for Chinese residents who like a flutter after the government continued their assault on activities that may turn residents’ mind to mush, this time focusing on the destruction of real money poker apps.
March 2000, and the US President Bill Clinton addressed an audience of Washington’s elite where he spoke of China’s attempts to control the Internet as trying to nail jello to the wall.
I guess that’s another thing he got wrong.
China has emerged as the most efficient nation when it comes to controlling the content their citizens consume on the Internet due to the Great Firewall of China.
According to a new report from a US government-funded NGO, Freedom House, freedom of the Internat in China declined for an eighth successive year, and countries like Russia and Uganda are following suit.
So the next time you’re worried that about your 14-year old boy jacking off to preggie-porn then maybe a move to China could be on the cards if you don’t mind sacrificing your online poker liberty.
In April, the Chinese government cracked down on social poker games in a move dubbed The Chinese Black Friday, and by the time June 1st came around, it was illegal to play on these apps.
For the poker industry, the news was as appealing as a freshly born boil on the side of your cheek. The World Series of Poker (WSOP) had recently signed a deal with Tencent Poker, and the WSOP.com play money app had to go. The World Poker Tour (WPT), owned by Ourgame International, have been equally stymied in their progression in that part of the world.
It seems a few smart thinkers had found a lucrative way of running real money poker games behind the neon signs that declared poker rooms open for play money games, only.
In the past 18-months, Chinese officials have arrested more than 70-people for gambling on Tencent’s WeChat and QQ platforms, with the most significant sum wagered around 60 million Yuan ($8.6m). At the same time, WeChat (China’s most popular social media platform) closed over 8,000 accounts in connection with suspected gambling activities.
And the troops deployed to kill online poker made more ground this week when they ordered the closure of real money poker apps Poker King & Poker Tribe.
Poker King & Poker Tribe Close For Business
Chinese media sources have declared that Poker King & Poker Tribe (available on Android and iOS devices) have gone the way of the Dodo this week.
Reports indicate that Poker King was pulling in 50 million Yuan ($7.1m) in daily bets before the closure. The platform’s owners made millions of dollars charging commision on player winnings.
And it’s not just poker.
Recently, the government ordered Tencent to remove pornographic content from WeChat leading to the blocking or closure of 1,706 of WeChat’s one billion users.
That’s it, kids.
Pack your bags.
We’re moving to China.
